Summary
As part of the process of setting the level of the
television licence fee from April 2007, the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport (DCMS) has made an assumption about the level of efficiency savings the
BBC can deliver.
This report by the National Audit Office,
‘How
the DCMS assessed the BBC's as part of the licence fee settlement’ (HC
183), examines whether the Department has reasonable grounds on which to
base its assessment of the BBC's scope for efficiency savings.
Findings include that the BBC will not be at the "efficiency frontier" by
2008 but that the BBC was beginning to deliver the value for money programme,
but that the absence of transformational change could limit efficiencies.
However, consultants also concluded that the BBC paid more per hour for
programmes and that the BBC is commissioning programmes with a more expensive
set of production components.
How does it affect me?
With the announcement on 18 January 2007, that the TV licence fee would rise
by 3% over each of the next two years, meaning that the current fee of £131.50
could rise to a maximum £151 by 2012, assessments of the BBC's efficiency are
highly relevant.
Read the 18 January 2007
Statement
on Licence Fee by the Secretary of State.
Read more about
DCMS media
regulation.
Find out more about the BBC Charter Review.
