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Appointment details

BBC Member for Northern Ireland

Summary

• Organisation: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Sponsor department: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Location: London
• Sectors: Culture, Media & Sport
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Time commitment: 2 day(s) per week
• Remuneration: £33,000 to £38,000 per annum
• Length of term: 4 years
• Application deadline: 7pm on 6 June 2022

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Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   11 March 2022

2. Application deadline

   7pm on 6 June 2022

3. Interviews expected to end on

   31 October 2022

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the appointment

Introduction

The BBC’s Royal Charter requires the BBC to ensure that it provides output and services that reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions.  To help the BBC deliver this duty the Board includes non-executive Board members representing Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.  Nations members of the BBC Board are appointed by the UK Government with the agreement of the respective devolved Parliament or Assembly.  

DCMS is committed to eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity in its public appointments. We particularly encourage applicants from underrepresented groups, those based outside London and the South-East and applicants who have achieved success through non-traditional educational routes. This ensures that boards of public bodies benefit from a full range of diverse perspectives and are representative of the people they serve.

Appointment description

The Member for Northern Ireland 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;
• Be a senior representative and ambassador of the BBC to its various stakeholders, including the United Kingdom Government and Parliament and the devolved national Assembly in Northern Ireland;
• Uphold and protect the independence of the BBC;
• Provide leadership 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;
• Support the Chair and 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; and
• Hold the BBC Executive to account, including with regards to editorial and journalistic practices, to help ensure that the BBC adheres to the highest standards; and
• Provide challenge and scrutiny to ensure that the BBC provides output and services that meet the needs of audiences in Northern Ireland. In this context, the Nation member for Northern Ireland will be required to Chair the Northern Ireland Committee of the BBC Board. The remit of the Committee is to require that the BBC provides output and services that meet the needs of audiences in Northern Ireland and that the BBC fulfils its public purpose in relation to the Nations and Regions of the United Kingdom. It meets at least three times a year.

Organisation description

BBC Member for Northern Ireland

The BBC’s mission is defined by the 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 Member for Northern Ireland is one of 14 members who oversee 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 local 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; 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.

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

Person specification

Essential criteria

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 a high level of public or commercial life in the UK with experience of senior leadership roles or board roles or equivalent;
• An understanding of the key challenges and opportunities facing the media and (public service) broadcasting market and/or the creative industries in the UK, and globally; 
• 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, upholding journalistic standards, and global reach.

Member for Northern Ireland

For the Northern Ireland Member role, the successful candidate will have a strong connection, by residence or otherwise, with Northern Ireland.

In addition to the essential skills and experience listed above, applicants for the role of Northern Ireland Board member must be able to demonstrate the following attributes:

• A strong knowledge of the culture, characteristics and affairs of the people, and broadcasting issues, in Northern Ireland; and
• An understanding of views of audiences and public opinion in Northern Ireland.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of financial management and a good understanding of audit, governance, risk management and control.

Application and selection process

How to apply

This campaign is being run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with support from Odgers Berndtson. The preferred method of application is online at: https://www.odgers.com/85310 If you are unable to apply online, please email: anne.neill@odgersberndtson.com

In order to apply you will need to provide:

1. A comprehensive CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements.

2. A covering letter (maximum two sides of A4) highlighting your suitability and setting out how you meet the person specification. Please note that the covering letter is an important part of your application and is as much the means by which you will be assessed as your CV.

3. Diversity Monitoring Form – once you have completed your application, you will receive an automatically generated email asking you to complete a Diversity Monitoring Form. Your Diversity Monitoring Form will be stored separately from your application and will play no part in the selection process.

4. Conflicts of Interest form – this can be downloaded as part of the online application process. Please do not upload these forms with your application but return to anne.neill@odgersberndtson.com

5. Disability Confident – We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert. When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered under this scheme.

6. Reasonable adjustments - requests for reasonable adjustments that you would like to the application process (if applicable).

All applications will receive an automated response. 

Completed applications should be submitted to:

The preferred method of application is online at: https://www.odgers.com/85310

If you are unable to apply online, please email: anne.neill@odgersberndtson.com

The Advisory Assessment Panel reserves the right to only consider applications that contain all of the elements listed above, and that arrive before the published deadline for applications.

For a conversation in confidence, please contact: Laura Spurgin on laura.spurgin@odgersberndtson.com.

Overview of the application process

Public appointments are made on merit following a fair and open competition process which is conducted in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments. We will deal with your application as quickly as possible and will keep you informed at key stages. We aim to conclude the appointment process within three months of the deadline for applications – this is in accordance with the Governance Code.

The assessment process

1. Ministers are responsible and accountable to Parliament for the public appointments made within their department. As a result, they must be consulted at every stage of the appointments process.

2. An Advisory Assessment Panel (“Panel”) is appointed by Ministers to assist them in their decision making. The role of the Panel is to decide, objectively, which candidates meet the eligibility criteria for the role.

3. At the shortlisting meeting the Panel will assess applications against the eligibility criteria and decide which candidates should be recommended for interview. Ministers will then be consulted on the Panel’s recommended shortlist.

4. Once the shortlist has been agreed by Ministers, you will be advised (by e-mail) whether you have been shortlisted. Those shortlisted will be invited to an interview.

5. The Panel will meet again to interview candidates and determine who is appointable to the role. The names of all appointable candidates are provided to Ministers. It is then for Ministers to determine merit and decide who should be appointed. In some circumstances, Ministers may choose not to appoint any candidates and re-run the competition.

6. The Panel’s recommendations will be provided to Ministers in a report which details the assessment method used and the outcome of each interview. They will then be asked to agree on the candidate(s) who should be appointed.

7. Once the decision on the appointment has been made, interviewed candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application. Successful candidates will be issued with their Terms & Conditions and a letter of appointment should they agree to take up the position.

Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP)

Robert Specterman-Green - Director for Media and Creative Industries, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport • Departmental Official - Panel Chair

Richard Sharp - BBC Chairman - Representative of Organisation

John McCord - Department for Communities, Northern Ireland Executive -  Departmental Official 

Dr Samir Shah CBE - Other Panel Member

Catherine Baxendale - Independent Member

Advisory Assessment Panels (AAP) are chosen by ministers to assist them in their decision-making. These include a departmental official and an independent member. For competitions recruiting non-executive members of a board (apart from the Chair), the panel will usually include a representative from the public body concerned.

AAP’s perform a number of functions, including agreeing an assessment strategy with ministers, undertaking sifting, carrying out interviews in line with the advertised criteria and deciding objectively who meets the published selection criteria for the role before recommending to ministers which candidates they find appointable. It is then for the minister to decide who to appoint to the role.

Eligibility criteria

In general, you should have the right to work in the UK to be eligible to apply for a public appointment.

There are a small number of specialist roles that are not open to non-British citizens. Any nationality requirements will be specified in the vacancy details.

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you are disqualified from acting as a company director  (under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986);

• have an unspent conviction on your criminal record;

• 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.

When you apply, you should declare if:

• you are, or have been, bankrupt or you have made an arrangement with a creditor at any point, including the dates of this. 

• you are subject to a current police investigation.

You must inform the sponsor department if, during the application process, your circumstances change in respect of any of the above points. 

When you apply you should also declare any relevant interests, highlighting any that you think may call into question your ability to properly discharge the responsibilities of the role you are applying for. You should also declare any other matters which may mean you may not be able to meet the requirements of the Code of Conduct of Board Members (see Outside interests and reputational issues section below)

If you need further advice, please contact publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk

Security clearance

The successful candidate will be required to undertake Baseline Personnel Security Standard checks in line with the Civil Service guidelines. Additional Security Clearance may also be required for certain roles. However, where this applies, candidates will be notified during the appointment process. Further information on National Security Vetting can be found on the Gov.uk website here.

Additional information for candidates

Equality and diversity

We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve and this is an important part of the Government’s levelling up agenda.

We collect data about applicants’ characteristics and backgrounds, including information about people’s educational and professional backgrounds, so that we can make sure we are attracting a broad range of people to these roles and that our selection processes are fair for everyone. Without this information, it makes it difficult to see if our outreach is working, if the application process is having an unfair impact on certain groups and whether changes are making a positive difference.

When you submit your application, your responses are collected by the Cabinet Office and the government department(s) managing your application. The data is used to produce management information about the diversity of applicants. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel who review applications against the advertised criteria and conduct interviews.

Disability confident

We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. 

As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered under this scheme.

Reasonable adjustments

Government departments are committed to making reasonable adjustments to make sure applicants with disabilities, physical or mental health conditions, or other needs are not substantially disadvantaged when applying for public appointments. This can include changing the recruitment process to enable people who wish to apply to do so.

Some examples of common changes are:

• ensuring that application forms are available in different or accessible formats;
• making adaptations to interview locations;
• allowing candidates to present their skills and experience in a different way;
• giving detailed information on the selection / interview process in advance to allow candidates time to prepare themselves;
• allowing support workers, for example sign language interpreters;
• making provision for support animals to attend.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the application process.

Principles of public life

Holders of public office are expected to adhere to and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2. These are:

1. SELFLESSNESS - Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family or their friends;
2. INTEGRITY - Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties;
3. OBJECTIVITY - In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit;
4. ACCOUNTABILITY - Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office;
5. OPENNESS - Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands;
6. HONESTY - Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest;
7. LEADERSHIP - Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Code of conduct for board members

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. In support of this, all non-executive board members of UK public bodies must abide by the principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code sets out the standards expected from those who serve on the boards of UK public bodies and will form part of your terms and conditions of appointment.

Management of outside interests and consideration of reputational issues

Holders of public office are expected to adhere and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully: 

• any outside interests that you may have, such as shares you may hold in a company providing services to government; 
• any possible reputational issues arising from your past actions or or public statements that you have made; 
• and/or - any political roles you hold or political campaigns you have supported; 

which may call into question your ability to do the role you are applying for.

You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies. 

Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).

Status of appointment

You will not become a member of the Civil Service. You will not be subject to the provisions of employment law.

Appointment and tenure of office

Appointments are for the term set out in this advert, with the possibility of re-appointment for a further term, at the discretion of Ministers.  Any re-appointment is subject to satisfactory annual appraisals of performance during the first term in the post. If re-appointed, the total time served in post will not exceed more than two terms or serve in any one post for more than ten years

Remuneration, allowances and abatement

The base fee for all non-executive directors at the BBC is £33,000 per annum. A committee chair fee of £5,000 is paid on top of the base fee for chairing one of the committees of the Board, reflecting the additional time and responsibility required. The successful candidate will be required to Chair the Northern Ireland Committee and serve on other committees of the Board.

Pension and redundancy

This is an office holder appointment and does not attract any benefits under any Civil Service Pension Scheme. You will not be eligible for redundancy pay as you are not an employee. No other arrangements have been made for compensation upon termination because an office holder who is appointed for a limited duration would have no expectation of serving beyond that period.

Application feedback

We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that we are only able to offer detailed feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.

How to complain

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy.

Please contact the DCMS public appointments team in the first instance if you would like to make a complaint regarding your application at publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk. They will acknowledge your complaint upon receipt and respond within 15 working days.

How to complain to Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA)

If you are not content with the appointing department’s response, [and this appointment is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments], you may wish to further complain to the Commissioner at publicappointments@csc.gov.uk,Further information on how the Commissioner handles complaints can be found on the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ website www.publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/complaints

Data protection

The Cabinet Office will use your data in line with our privacy policy.

Public Appointments campaigns led and managed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Dear Applicant  

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) controls the information you provide in your application for a Public Appointment role. 

All information provided will be processed in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation and used to progress the relevant public appointment campaign. 

DCMS will not disclose any information you provide unless required to do so in accordance with ‘access to information regimes’ (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).  

Applicant details will not be shared outside of the Public Appointments process ahead of a potential Public Appointment announcement of the successful candidate/s. 

Data provided by applicants to Public Appointments may be shared with the Cabinet Office. This is in order to comply with the legal obligation required by the Governance Code of Public Appointments under article 3.1 of the Public Appointments Order in Council 2016.  

Other potential recipients of data within scope of the Public Appointments process include the Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP) for each campaign, the Arms Length Body to which the role/s and campaign relates, the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), the Prime Minister’s Office, The Palace (if a Queen’s appointment) and the Privy Council (if Privy Council approval is required).

Anonymised diversity data for Public Appointment applicants and appointees will also be shared with Cabinet Office and OCPA in order to meet the public equality duty as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

Due diligence will also be undertaken for applicants shortlisted for interview.  Applicants should expect this to include searches for public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information.

Your information will be retained by the Department for two years from the date the information is received after which it will be destroyed.

Olivia Morrell and Phil Hodges

Head of Public Appointments

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport