SERVICE LICENCES AND THE PUBLIC VALUE TEST

The way in which the BBC's services are governed will change radically in 2007, when the Board of Governors is replaced with a new BBC Trust. Service Licences and the Public Value Test will be important tools for the Trust in carrying out the duties placed on it as part of the new Charter. To ensure swift implementation of these arrangements once the Trust is in place, the Governors and their Governance Unit have undertaken preparatory work and this has included gathering views on how they might work.

The BBC Governors' thinking on Service Licences and the Public Value Test was set out in a document for public consultation which ran from 25 October to 16 December 2005. The consultation document can be viewed below.

The Governors wanted to hear a full range of views in response to the ideas described in the document and would like to thank everyone who submitted a response.

All responses are available on this website. You can read the individual responses here or a summary at the bottom of the page.

Next steps

Since the consultation closed, the Government has published its White Paper on the BBC's Charter Review to Parliament. This sets out the requirement that every BBC service operate according to a Service Licence issued by the BBC Trust and requires that any significant changes to existing BBC services, or proposed new services should undergo scrutiny via a Public Value Test. The Governance Unit provided the summary of responses to this consultation to the DCMS in order to allow the Department to take account of the feedback received, prior to publication of the White Paper.

The provisional Service Licences that are now being drafted take account of the White Paper and the responses to this consultation. The BBC Governors plan to publish the provisional Service Licences for every BBC service on this website later on in 2006 for public consultation.

Following that process, complete drafts will be presented to the Trust after it is constituted, in order that its members can reach key decisions on the governance of the BBC's services under the new Charter.

The Government decided that - as part of the Public Value Test - the Trust should agree with Ofcom the terms and scope of a market impact assessment and that Ofcom should carry out that assessment. The Governance Unit will begin discussions with Ofcom about arrangements for this process shortly. The Board of Governors has announced that the proposed MyBBCPlayer will be subject to a Public Value Test in line with the arrangements outlined in the White Paper.

Consultation responses

There were 33 responses in total: 18 from individuals and 15 from organisations.

Organisations:
3WE (Third World Environment Broadcasting Project) Broadcasting Council for Wales
British Sky Broadcasting
Channel 4
Chrysalis Radio
Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA)
Friends of Radio 3
ITN
ITV
Pact
Public Voice
Satellite and Cable Broadcasters Group (SCBG)
SMG
UK Film Council
Voice of the Listener and Viewer

In addition, the BBC Governance Unit met representatives of the following organisations during the course of the consultation to seek their views. Many of these subsequently made written responses. (See list above)

British Internet Publishers Association
Channel 4
Chrysalis Radio
Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA)
GCap
ITN
ITV
Ofcom
Satellite and Cable Broadcasters Group (SCBG)
Voice of the Listener and Viewer