“Sustainable funding is the most important challenge facing the BBC”: Bectu backs the BBC at parliamentary evidence session

Head of Bectu Philippa Childs spoke to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee earlier this week, in a public oral evidence session as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the BBC Royal Charter Review. 

Alongside writer and director Steven Knight CBE, Chair of Voice of the Listener and Viewer Colin Browne and Interim Director of Demos Digital Hannah Perry, Philippa was questioned on a range of issues including funding models, how the BBC is governed, and the impact of further cuts. 

Governance 

Philippa outlined how critical sound governance is to the BBC and argued that political appointments are detrimental to its success and how it is perceived by the public.  

Bectu has previously argued that the government must look at who makes up the BBC board, and Philippa made clear that this should include people with industry experience and perspective, like union reps, and should constitute more than “one token worker on the board”.  

She said: “We want to see more diversity on the BBC board, more regional representation and, indeed, some form of worker representation…whether that is somebody who works there or somebody who is representative of the people who work there.” 

Skills development  

The panel talked about the variety of jobs within the film and TV industry. 

Philippa argued that the BBC is “absolutely crucial” to providing a skills and talent pipeline into the UK’s wider creative industries. 

She said: “We represent not only people who work at the BBC but also lots of freelancers who work on productions. The vast majority of people you meet learnt their skills while working on a BBC production or while working directly for the BBC, so it plays an absolutely crucial role.  

“It works in partnership with other organisations to deliver those skills. Inevitably, as the BBC has faced a decade of cuts, it is not able to do as much of that as it perhaps did previously, but it still remains a key player. It has recruited thousands of apprentices and is really important to the health of our wider creative industries.” 

Ensuring equality of opportunity  

Philippa acknowledged the BBC’s commitment to diversity on and off-screen, and noted its pivotal role in things like Action for Freelancers, the coalition including broadcasters, production companies and Bectu, and the TV Access Project, but said: 

“They can always do more. Going back to the funding challenges, unfortunately we are quite in a difficult time for production at the moment and lots of our members have faced long periods out of work. Inevitably, under-represented groups are more impacted than others in times of low production.  

“If you are a freelancer and come from a lower socioeconomic background, it is inevitably difficult to sustain yourself in a quite precarious industry. 

Further cuts 

Philippa also answered questions about the wellbeing of BBC staff, given significant cuts announced this week. 

She warned these cuts would have “real and significant consequences” and that “just cutting roles out without stopping doing things…is hugely problematic.” 

She continued: “That comes on top of a decade of cuts, so morale is very low at the moment and people are very anxious about what the future holds for them, but that does not diminish their commitment to the BBC or their belief in the BBC. They want to see a long-term funding mechanism that means that they are not facing wave after wave of cuts. 

“Sustainable funding is the most important challenge facing the BBC going forward. As others have said, it is important for all sorts of reasons—for our democracy and for the creative industries more generally.” 

Improving industry behaviour  

Philippa said the BBC’s support for the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, and its expectation that all BBC partners meet the CIISA ‘standards’, is “hugely important”.  

She said: “We know that the BBC and other broadcasters have been hit with various scandals about behaviour on productions. For freelancers it is very difficult to complain, because they are worrying about where their next job is coming from and getting a reputation for being someone who complains. Somewhere trusted and independent where people can go and feel that they can tell their stories is really important.” 

The committee and other speakers acknowledged that the debate around standards of behaviour in the creative industries must continue as part of the charter review process. You can watch the session here.