BBC to open its books to the NAO

22 Sep 10
The National Audit Office is to be given full access to the BBC’s accounts for the first time, it was announced today

By Lucy Phillips

22 September 2010

The National Audit Office is to be given full access to the BBC’s accounts for the first time, it was announced today.

Previously the spending watchdog could only undertake value for money studies if invited to do so by the BBC Trust. After weeks of negotiations between the BBC’s governing body and the government, Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster formally revealed the terms of the deal at his party’s conference in Liverpool this afternoon.

The LibDem culture spokesman said: ‘Agreement has been reached and the NAO will have full access to the BBC’s accounts. It will see BBC management information and confidential BBC contracts with third parties. In all, it will be able to get hold of any information it needs to carry out its studies. But it will happen in a way that always ensures the editorial independence of the Beeb.‘

This was ‘another coalition promise delivered’, he said.

He claimed that the LibDems would ‘always be staunch supporters of the BBC’ but they ‘can’t allow it to waste licence fee payers’ money’.  

The new arrangements will be in place by November next year at the latest. Confidentiality agreements with on-screen stars will remain in place. 

In a statement the BBC Trust said the NAO was already ‘an important ally in our push to deliver transparency and better value for money.’ It added:  ‘We support a move to allow the NAO to choose which areas of BBC operations it will review on an annual basis. In our view, this does not threaten the BBC’s independent from government or Parliament, provided that the NAO continues to report to the trust and does not question editorial decision-making.’

Dale Bassett, research director at the Reform think-tank, described it as ‘a very positive move’.  He told Public Finance: ‘The licence fee takes £3.5bn of public money so it’s right that is audited and the public has an idea of how this is spent.

‘Everyone is aware that there is a big squeeze on the public finances. The BBC has always been regarded as a special case and it is unrealistic at a time when we are looking at 25% cuts across the board for the BBC to expect to be unaffected.’

He added that anecdotal evidence had revealed that there was ‘probably a lot of money wasted’ at the broadcaster, and this was ‘inevitable in an organisation of that nature’.

Last week the BBC agreed to find short-term savings that would allow the licence fee to be frozen for two years, as a reflection of the current economic climate. The government accepted the concession for next year but a decision about 2012/13 will be made later.

Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the BBC Trust, also announced that he did not want to seek a second term and will step down in May next year.

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