Source : The Times

The BBC should report to an outside body that could hand licence-fee money to rival broadcasters, a panel advising Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has concluded.

A new public service broadcasting commission would set the licence fee and remove funding from the BBC if it failed to meet the highest standards, the committee headed by Lord Burns recommended.

A spokesman for Ms Jowell said that the radical proposals would "feed into" a Green Paper on the next BBC Charter, which the Culture Secretary will publish in the next few weeks. But the BBC will fiercely resist the recommendations that would end its monopoly over the licence fee and threaten the long-standing tradition of self-governance.

The Burns committee, whose members included Sir Alan Budd, the former chief economic adviser to the Treasury, and Sly Bailey, the Chief Executive of Trinity Mirror, delivered its final report yesterday.

It said that the BBC must be independent of government but should also demonstrate a "transparent structure of accountability to licence-fee payers". The governors would be replaced by a new "strong" BBC board led by a non-executive chairman with a majority of independent non-executive directors, in line with best corporate governance standards.

Ministers would still choose the chairman but the BBC's director-general would now sit on the board. New board members would be chosen by a sub-committee including an independent member of the Civil Service Commission.

All board members must have the skills appropriate for the oversight of a sprawling £3 billion corporation. The public service broadcasting commission would recommend the level of the licence fee to Parliament and sit in ultimate judgment on the BBC's output.

The commission would approve or reject the programming strategy submitted to it by the new BBC board. Programmes must be "high-quality, innovative, distinctive, stimulative, inspiring and challenging".

Rivals such as Channel 4, ITV or BSkyB would be allowed to bid for cash from the total licence-fee pot.

The commission would allocate money for programmes which would ensure high quality public-service broadcasting. The Government would appoint the commissioners, although the body is supposed to be independent of government, with a mandate to ensure the BBC was not subject to political interference.

Ofcom would provide evidence and advise the commission on public-service broadcasting questions. But the commission would be the final arbiter for complaints about BBC programmes and could order an investigation into its finances in conjunction with the National Audit Office.

Lord Burns also proposes that Ofcom should take up the "determining role" in the regulation of the BBC's commercial activities, bringing the corporation into line with other broadcasters.

© The Times