Post by Teddy Bear on Mar 6, 2012 14:31:14 GMT
The article itself pretty much spells out what we already knew. Let's see how the BBC respond.
'Unambitious' BBC had to have its arm twisted to save YOUR money, say MPs on the Public Accounts Committee
By Paul Revoir
MPs today accuse the BBC of being ‘unambitious’ about saving money and criticise the Corporation’s lack of ‘openness’.
It was only when the BBC was put under pressure to reach a licence fee settlement that it was forced into annual efficiencies of £560million, the Public Accounts Committee says.
It adds that by underestimating the ‘scope for efficiency improvements’, the BBC risked undermining public trust in its financial management, openness and ability to deliver value for money.
The MPs say its failure left the broadcaster in a weak position to argue that future cuts to its budget would be damaging to services.
The Corporation does not even know with confidence if savings have affected the quality of its programmes, they warn.
The sharp criticism centres around a licence fee deal agreed in 2007.
At the time, the BBC Trust set the Corporation efficiency savings of 3 per cent a year for five years up to 2012-2013. However, MPs discovered that the broadcaster found almost half the required savings in the first year of the programme.
They say ‘earlier pronouncements’ about the ‘limited scope of savings’ were ‘very wide of the mark’.
The committee criticises the Corporation for not preparing a detailed analysis of the costs of its services and value to licence fee payers when identifying savings.
It adds that current attempts to boost commercial income by £40million a year are also ‘unambitious’.
Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the committee, said following the deal, the BBC moved from saying no efficiencies were available to saying it was ‘comfortably on track’ to achieve 3 per cent annual savings.
He said: ‘When negotiating the television licence fee settlement in 2007, the BBC claimed that it could make no efficiency savings beyond 2008. But now it forecasts that, by 2012-13, it will have delivered annual efficiency savings of £560million and plans to make further annual savings of £400million by 2016-17.
'It was the pressure of the licence fee settlement that drove the BBC to find these savings'
‘It took the pressure of a licence fee settlement to force the BBC into setting a target of 3 per cent annual savings, which it is comfortably on track to achieve. The BBC’s assumptions were unambitious.’
MPs tell the BBC to ‘challenge the cost of its services more vigorously’ by comparing departments across the organisation and to other broadcasters.
Their report says: ‘It is clear that there was far greater scope for savings than the BBC believed possible in 2007, and that it was the pressure of the licence fee settlement that drove the BBC to find these savings.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The Department for Culture, Media and Sport identified that the BBC could make annual efficiency savings of up to 3 per cent as part of the licence fee settlement.
‘Since then, the development of new technology... and changes to our property portfolio... has enabled further productivity savings to be made.
By Paul Revoir
MPs today accuse the BBC of being ‘unambitious’ about saving money and criticise the Corporation’s lack of ‘openness’.
It was only when the BBC was put under pressure to reach a licence fee settlement that it was forced into annual efficiencies of £560million, the Public Accounts Committee says.
It adds that by underestimating the ‘scope for efficiency improvements’, the BBC risked undermining public trust in its financial management, openness and ability to deliver value for money.
The MPs say its failure left the broadcaster in a weak position to argue that future cuts to its budget would be damaging to services.
The Corporation does not even know with confidence if savings have affected the quality of its programmes, they warn.
The sharp criticism centres around a licence fee deal agreed in 2007.
At the time, the BBC Trust set the Corporation efficiency savings of 3 per cent a year for five years up to 2012-2013. However, MPs discovered that the broadcaster found almost half the required savings in the first year of the programme.
They say ‘earlier pronouncements’ about the ‘limited scope of savings’ were ‘very wide of the mark’.
The committee criticises the Corporation for not preparing a detailed analysis of the costs of its services and value to licence fee payers when identifying savings.
It adds that current attempts to boost commercial income by £40million a year are also ‘unambitious’.
Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the committee, said following the deal, the BBC moved from saying no efficiencies were available to saying it was ‘comfortably on track’ to achieve 3 per cent annual savings.
He said: ‘When negotiating the television licence fee settlement in 2007, the BBC claimed that it could make no efficiency savings beyond 2008. But now it forecasts that, by 2012-13, it will have delivered annual efficiency savings of £560million and plans to make further annual savings of £400million by 2016-17.
'It was the pressure of the licence fee settlement that drove the BBC to find these savings'
‘It took the pressure of a licence fee settlement to force the BBC into setting a target of 3 per cent annual savings, which it is comfortably on track to achieve. The BBC’s assumptions were unambitious.’
MPs tell the BBC to ‘challenge the cost of its services more vigorously’ by comparing departments across the organisation and to other broadcasters.
Their report says: ‘It is clear that there was far greater scope for savings than the BBC believed possible in 2007, and that it was the pressure of the licence fee settlement that drove the BBC to find these savings.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The Department for Culture, Media and Sport identified that the BBC could make annual efficiency savings of up to 3 per cent as part of the licence fee settlement.
‘Since then, the development of new technology... and changes to our property portfolio... has enabled further productivity savings to be made.