The Board of Governors has a number of sub-committees which meet regularly to consider matters such as fair trading compliance or remuneration, reporting decisions back to the main Board.
The sub-committees are:
Audit Committee |
Fair Trading Compliance Committee |
Finance and General Purposes Committee |
Governors' Programme Complaints Committee |
Remuneration Committee
Under the Royal Charter, the Board of Governors is required to establish and maintain an Audit Committee with the highest standards of corporate governance.
The Audit Committee consists of four Governors and is advised by the Director of Governance and the Head of Business Assurance.
It is the responsibility of the Audit Committee to review reports on the effectiveness of systems for internal financial control, financial reporting and risk management, and to ensure that the internal audit and risk management function is adequately resourced and has appropriate standing within the BBC.
It is also the responsibility of the Audit Committee to commission reviews that examine the extent to which the BBC achieves value for money in using the licence fee as well as to consider management's response to any major external or internal audit recommendations.
The Committee members are: Jeremy Peat (Chair), Andrew Burns, Ruth Deech, and Dermot Gleeson.
The BBC, like other organisations, is fully subject to both domestic and European competition law. In addition, the BBC's responsibility to trade fairly is reflected in additional requirements arising from its Royal Charter. In particular, the Charter requires the avoidance of cross-subsidy between the BBC's publicly funded and commercial activities.
The BBC's fair trading obligations are embodied in its Fair Trading Commitment, which is underpinned by the BBC's Fair Trading Guidelines.
Scrutiny of the BBC's Fair Trading Commitment is undertaken by the Fair Trading Compliance Committee (FTCC). The Committee is advised directly by independent auditors commissioned and managed by the Governance Unit and the BBC's Head of Fair Trading.
The Committee members are: Anthony Salz (Chair), Ruth Deech, Merfyn Jones and Fabian Monds.
The Finance and General Purposes Committee assists and makes recommendations to the Board on financial, strategic, investment and property related matters. This committee replaces the former Property Committee.
The Committee is tasked with scrutinising and making recommendations to the Board on the annual budget of the Corporation and to review investment cases prior to them being considered by the Board of Governors. The Committee's authority also extends to reviewing progress against the BBC's major projects and strategies and helping to scrutinise management proposals prior to their consideration by the full Board.
The Committee members are: Dermot Gleeson (Chair), Michael Grade, Anthony Salz and Jeremy Peat.
The GPCC is responsible for ensuring that complaints are properly handled by the BBC. The Committee does this in two ways.
Firstly, it maintains oversight of the BBC's complaints handling processes. This includes the periodic assessment of its strategic approach to complaints handling; an annual review of the processes against best-practice standards; and receiving quarterly complaints reporting.
Secondly, it considers appeals where an editorial complaint has been escalated through the BBC management complaints process and the complainant is not satisfied with the response s/he has received. Usually, this will mean the complaint has been investigated by the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU). Sometimes, however, a complaint falls outside the remit of the ECU, but still provides evidence to suggest a serious breach of editorial standards. In that case, the complaint must have been considered by a BBC Divisional Director.
The Committee publishes a quarterly report on the appeals which it has considered. You can find the most recent report here.
The Committee members are: Richard Tait (Chair), Deborah Bull, Merfyn Jones, Fabian Monds and Angela Sarkis.
Download the terms of reference (PDF)
Download the new procedures document (PDF) which details how the GPCC handles appeals
The Remuneration Committee deals with all matters relating to the remuneration of members of the Executive Board. The Committee is accountable to the Board of Governors for the determination and maintenance of overall remuneration policy, including the review and agreement of Executive Board base pay, bonus awards and benefits (including pension arrangements).
The Committee considers the performance of individual members of the Executive Board and recommends their base pay and annual bonus awards to the full Board of Governors.
The Committee members are: Anthony Salz (Chair), Michael Grade and Deborah Bull.
Download the terms of reference
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