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"Too early to judge" success of BBC Salford

It is too early to measure the long-term impact of the BBC’s move to Salford, according to watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), while value-for-money for licence fee payers is also not yet clear.

It its report, NAO said the budget for the move and operating the site up until 2030, when the BBC’s 20-year lease with Peel Media Ltd will end, was increased by £66m in February 2011 to £942m.

BBC were criticised for not carrying out “sufficient analysis” of how it would save up to £151m by March 2030 to offset this increased relocation cost.

Recommendations to “embed new ways …to achieve efficiencies of £151m” were accepted by the BBC, who also said they would work to offer sustainable economic benefits for the Northern regions.

Anthony Fry, chair of the BBC Trust’s financial committee, said: “The BBC has struck a sound balance in its handling of this move, part of a commitment agreed during the last Charter to better serve all audiences across the UK.

“Relocation allowances have helped to ensure continuity for audiences by encouraging a sufficient proportion of London staff to move, while over 250 new staff were recruited from the Greater Manchester area.

NAO highlighted higher than normal allowances to incentivise and compensate staff moving to the Salford area, and the report showed a total £24m was spent to persuade staff further North.

Remote location allowances, for example, covered the cost of renting in Salford for two years, as well as travel between London and Salford for the same period.

NAO criticised the BBC for not having sufficient control over exceptions within its relocation policy, and said its checks were “inadequate.”

Mr Fry added: “Given that the move was well-managed and within budget, however, it is disappointing that some of the controls on relocation payments proved inadequate and we would not expect a repeat of this with any future moves.”

Despite these criticisms, the report said the move should be £9m below the £233m budget approved by the BBC Trust, while targets to relocate 30% of staff have been exceeded, with 38% making the move.

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, commented: “The BBC relocated to Salford on time and without disruption to broadcast services, and the final cost of moving should be within budget.

“Skills were maintained and redundancy costs reduced by offering London-based staff more generous relocation packages than it usually offers to encourage them to move, though the BBC could have controlled these better.

“However, it is too early to judge whether the move will achieve value for money for licence fee payers.

“It is welcome that the BBC has developed an appropriate approach to measuring the future impacts of the move but it still needs to explain how it is going to make all of its planned efficiency savings.”

The final cost of moving people and fitting out the buildings at Salford’s MediaCity, which were financed and built by Peel Group, will be £224m.

Mr Fry concluded: “Now a solid and thriving production base with major live programming broadcast 24 hours a day, Salford has a strong working culture that should deliver long-term improvements in both creativity and efficiency, as long as the BBC keeps focused on these objectives.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .