Under the new Royal Charter and accompanying Agreement, regulation of the BBC passed from the BBC Trust to Ofcom on 3 April 2017. One of Ofcom’s central responsibilities is to hold the BBC to account for fulfilling its mission and promoting its public purposes.
As part of our new responsibilities, we are required to publish an Operating Framework containing provisions to secure effective regulation of the BBC. In relation to the BBC’s performance, we must set an operating licence for the BBC, and we may set measures to assess the BBC’s performance. The licence must set out the enforceable regulatory conditions that we consider appropriate to ensure the BBC fulfils its duties.
We consulted from March to July 2017 on:
a) a draft BBC operating licence, and the process for setting and amending this in future; and
b) Ofcom’s proposed performance measures for the BBC, and the process for setting and amending these in future.
This Statement sets out our first operating licence for the BBC and our performance framework, together with the processes for setting and amending these in the future. It also includes detailed Annexes setting out how we have taken account of consultation responses and of the BBC’s interim annual plan published on 3 July 2017.
The operating framework
See the BBC operating framework page.
On 17 July 2017, Ofcom published the quantitative findings of its deliberative research into audiences’ relationship to the BBC and their perceptions of its distinctiveness. Together with the qualitative findings (PDF, 954.5 KB) (published earlier in June), this research will inform Ofcom’s ongoing work assessing the BBC’s performance.
Ofcom’s consultation on the draft BBC operating licence closed on 17 July, but we recognise that some stakeholders may want to take account of the new research before finalising their responses. In these cases, we will extend the submission date until 24 July. Stakeholders who have already responded, will also have until 24 July to amend their submissions.
Main documents
Dal y BBC i gyfrif am gyflawni ei genhadaeth a’i ddibenion cyhoeddus (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Supporting documents
BBC Distinctiveness Research - Executive Summary (PDF, 279.6 KB)
Crynodeb Gweithredol Ofcom o’r Ymchwil I Natur Unigryw’r BBC (PDF, 517.0 KB)
BBC distinctiveness research: qualitative findings (PDF, 954.5 KB)
BBC distinctiveness research: quantitative findings (PDF, 2.0 MB)
Draft operating licence for the BBC’s UK Public Services (PDF, 643.9 KB)
Drafft o'r drwydded weithredu ar gyfer Gwasanaethau Cyhoeddus y BBC yn y DU (PDF, 645.9 KB)
The BBC's services: audiences in England (PDF, 685.2 KB)
The BBC's services: audiences in Scotland (PDF, 696.0 KB)
The BBC's services: audiences in Wales (PDF, 688.4 KB)
Gwasanaethau’r BBC: cynulleidfaoedd yng Nghymru (PDF, 850.8 KB)
The BBC's services: audiences in Northern Ireland (PDF, 686.8 KB)
Supporting documents
Responses
Contact information
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
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