Announcements (Archive)

Chair - British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

• Body: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Appointing Department: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
• Sector: Culture, Media & Sport
• Location: The BBC Board meets at least 11 times a year. Although the majority of those meetings have traditionally been held in London, the Board (including committee meetings) are also held in locations across the UK.
• Number of Vacancies: 1
• Remuneration: £160,000 per annum. All reasonable and properly documented expenses incurred in performing the duties of these roles will be reimbursed in accordance with BBC’s expenses policy.
• Time Requirements: 3-4 days per week. This is a four-year appointment.

Campaign Timeline

1. Competition Launched

   14/10/2020

2. Closed for Applications

   11/11/2020 at 00:00

3. Panel Sift

   w/c 16/11/2020

4. Final Interview Date

   w/c 30/11/2020 or w/c 07/12/2020

5. Announcement

   17/02/2021 at 12:00

Announcement

An announcement has been made on the outcome of this appointment.

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Assessment Panel

• Panel Member: Sarah Healey
• Panel Role: Panel Chair
• Positions: Permanent Secretary, DCMS Departmental Official

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Political Activity	-
Notes	-

• Panel Member: Sir William Fittall
• Positions: Senior Independent Panel Member

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Political Activity	-
Notes	-

• Panel Member: Catherine Baxendale

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Political Activity	-
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• Panel Member: Blondel Cluff CBE

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Political Activity	-
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Vacancy Description

We are looking for an outstanding individual with demonstrable leadership skills and a passion for the media and public broadcasting, to represent the public interest in the BBC and maintain the Corporation’s independence.

As per the BBC Royal Charter, the Chair of the BBC Board must be appointed by Order in Council following a fair and open competition.  The Governance Code, including the public appointment principles, must be followed in making the appointment. The Commissioner for Public Appointments will ensure that the appointment is made in accordance with the Governance Code.

Candidates should be aware that the preferred candidate for the post of Chair will be required to appear before a Parliamentary Select Committee prior to appointment.

About the BBC

The BBC’s mission is defined by Royal Charter: to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain.

The BBC is required to do this through delivering five public purposes:

1. To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them;

2. To support learning for people of all ages;

3. To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services;

4. To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom; and,

5. To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.

The BBC is a public corporation, independent in all matters concerning the fulfilment of its mission and the promotion of the public purposes. It is funded primarily by the licence fee and has a subsidiary commercial operation, which supports the delivery of the Corporation’s mission and public purposes.

Each year the BBC is required to publish an Annual Plan, setting out details of its creative remit for the forthcoming year, and an Annual Report and Accounts, reporting back on performance in the previous year. Copies of these can be found here and here.

The BBC’s activities and services

The BBC Board is responsible for the operation of the entirety of the BBC Group, which includes both the public service broadcasting responsibilities as well as its commercial operations, both in the UK and around the world.

The BBC Board is responsible for ensuring the delivery of the BBC’s mission and public purposes. The Chair leads the Board in this work, ensuring that the Corporation delivers its services and activities in the public interest.

The current public service broadcasting services delivered by the BBC are:

• a portfolio of television channels and services across the UK (with variants across the four Nations of the United Kingdom) providing mixed-genre services aiming for universal appeal; plus a dedicated television channel in Scotland;
• ten UK-wide radio networks, providing speech and music broadcasting across the UK, catering to all audiences;
• two national radio services in each of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, catering to both English and indigenous language audiences, as well as a network of local radio stations across England and the Channel Islands, providing a unique and local/regional service to listeners;
• a range of digital services including iPlayer, BBC Sounds, and apps for News, Sport and Weather, among other online services;
• education services, primarily for children, including homework support and campaigns with wider educational benefit; and
• a global network of news and information services delivered through television, radio and online in over 40 languages through the BBC World Service.

In addition to this, the BBC operates a number of commercial subsidiaries, including: the producer and distributor, BBC Studios; the operator of the BBC’s global news channel, Global News Ltd; and the physical studio operations business, BBC Studioworks.  These subsidiaries provide vital services to the BBC Group and an important, secondary, revenue source to support the Corporation’s public service broadcasting activities.

The BBC employs around 20,000 permanent staff and works with hundreds of contractors and freelancers across the industry.  It has bases in all four Nations of the United Kingdom, along with bureaux and offices across the globe.

More information on the responsibilities of the Board can be found here. 

The BBC Board has established its own Code of Practice which all directors must follow; this document can be found here.

Person Specification

The Chair will be expected to:

• Support the Mission and Public Purposes of the BBC, which is to act in the public interest, serving all audiences and all sections of the population through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain;
• Lead an effective Board and support the Chief Executive (Director General) to deliver the BBC’s strategic and business plans and effectively discharge its statutory and Charter responsibilities in line with corporate governance best practice, in particular through: ensuring that the Board meets with sufficient frequency; encouraging an open, inclusive discussion and challenge to the executive, where appropriate; ensuring the Board gives due time and attention to matters within its remit including matters reserved for the Board; and, evaluating the performance of the Board and individual directors;
• Provide leadership in a fast-changing media landscape in the UK, ensuring the BBC is up to the challenge of keeping pace with enormous technological changes, and promoting the BBC’s status as a globally-recognised British institution; and
• Be the most senior representative and ambassador of the BBC to its various stakeholders, including the United Kingdom Government and Parliament and the Devolved National Governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (working with the relevant Nations’ Board members).

Person Specification

Prospective candidates for the role need to be able to demonstrate a commitment to the independence, mission and public purposes of the BBC, as well as demonstrating that they meet a majority of the following criteria to a high degree:

• Experience working at the highest level of public or commercial life in the UK and/or internationally;
• An understanding of the key challenges and opportunities facing the media and broadcasting market and/or the creative industries in the UK, and globally;
• The skills needed to be an effective Chair; including experience of exercising financial management and securing value for money;
• A proven ability to think through complex issues strategically, independently and imaginatively;
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills, and the ability to represent the BBC to a wide range of stakeholder groups, including audiences, parliamentarians and the media; and,
• Ability to challenge and vigorously scrutinise in the public interest, the operation of the BBC, including delivery of impartiality and global reach.

Additional Information

Independence of members

In accordance with best practice in corporate governance the Chair and the majority of non-executive directors of the BBC Board will be required to be demonstrably independent of the Corporation. Independence will be assessed at the point of appointment and also annually by the Board itself. The criteria by which independence will be assessed will include whether a candidate:

• has been an employee of the BBC, or BBC Group within the last five years;
• has or has had within the last three years a material business relationship with the BBC either directly, or as a partner, shareholder, director or senior employee of a body that has such a relationship with the BBC;
• has received or receives additional remuneration from the BBC apart from a Director’s fee; or
• has close family ties with any of the BBC’s advisers, directors or senior employees.

Operating openly and transparently

As a public entity, the BBC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), and the Board is required to carry out its work openly and transparently, for example publishing its meeting minutes.

Disclosure or publication of certain information about Board members, and the work of the Board, may be required by FOIA or the Charter and Agreement. This may include the fees / salary, expenses, hospitality and external interests of non-executive directors.

Disability Confident

We guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role. By ‘minimum criteria’ we mean that you must provide evidence in your application which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria.

If you wish to apply under this scheme, please state this in the covering email or letter when submitting your application.

Reasonable adjustments

If you would like a confidential discussion regarding any reasonable adjustments during the process, please also indicate this in the covering email or letter.

If you are not completely satisfied

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy. If you have any complaints about the way your application has been handled, please contact publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk.

Supporting information

This process is regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA‘s) Code of Practice. All applicants are expected to have adhered to the Seven Principles of Public Life. 

Eligibility Criteria 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you become bankrupt or make an arrangement with a creditor
• your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors;
• you are disqualified from acting as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986;
• you have been convicted of a criminal offence, the conviction not being spent for the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (c. 53);
• you become subject to a debt relief order or a bankruptcy restrictions order;
• you fail to declare any conflict of interest.

Conflicts of Interest and Due Diligence

If you have any interests that might be relevant to the work of the BBC, and which could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest if you were to be appointed, please provide details in your application. If you have queries about this and would like to discuss further please contact the Public Appointments Team.

Given the nature of public appointments, it is important that those appointed as members of public bodies maintain the confidence of Parliament and the public. If there are any issues in your personal or professional history that could, if you were appointed, be misconstrued, cause embarrassment, or cause public confidence in the appointment to be jeopardised, it is important that you bring them to the attention of the Advisory Assessment Panel and provide details of the issue(s) in the statement supporting your application. In considering whether you wish to declare any issues, you should also reflect on any public statements you have made, including through social media.

As part of our due diligence checks we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This will include us undertaking searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. This information may be made available to the Advisory Assessment Panel and they may wish to explore issues with you should you be invited to interview. The information may also be shared with ministers and the Cabinet Office.

How to Apply

To apply, please send:

• a CV of not more than two sides of A4
• a supporting statement of not more than three sides of A4, providing examples and setting out how you meet the criteria
• the Diversity Monitoring Form concerning your personal information and political activity, and the Declaration of Interests Form.

Completed applications should be emailed to: publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk

Please put ‘BBC Chair’ in the Subject line.

If you have any questions about the appointments process, please email: publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk