BBC criticised over risk management

The BBC is facing renewed calls to open its books to the National Audit Office after MPs warned that the corporation is not doing enough to manage "a multiplicity of risks".

A report from the Commons public accounts committee said on Thursday that the broadcaster should allow the NAO to examine its accounts to ensure it was getting value for money from the licence fee.

Pointing to the kidnap of Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston, they also said that BBC managers were failing to anticipate threats faced by its own reporters in dangerous places.

The committee also warned that the reputation of the corporation was at risk following a series of phone-in scandals.

Accountability

Currently, the BBC Trust can control what the comptroller and auditor general can examine.

But the MPs warned there was "no fully satisfactory regime" for making the BBC accountable to Parliament to ensure it achieves value for money for the taxpayer.

"From the very real threats to the lives of its correspondents in war zones, to the dangers to its reputation of failing to deal fairly with its viewers and listeners, the BBC faces a multiplicity of risks," said committee chairman Edward Leigh.

"But the corporation and its managers at all levels are simply not doing enough to manage and anticipate those risks. This point was richly demonstrated in the case of the Blue Peter and other phone-in scandals.

"One key risk is that of failing to secure value for money for the licence fee-payer. The BBC's management of that risk would undoubtedly be much the stronger if the NAO were given the same independent rights of access to the corporation as it enjoys to other bodies funded by the public."

Scrutiny

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said the need for full scrutiny from the NAO "becomes more obvious by the day".

"The BBC needs to get a grip of its risk management processes and allow the comptroller and auditor general full access," he said. 

"This report suggests that a patchy approach to risk played some part in the recent phone-in scandals - stronger procedures and independent audit may have prevented these damaging breaches in editorial standards."

However, a spokesman for the BBC Trust said arrangements were already in place to ensure value for money.

"It is the responsibility of the Trust to ensure that value for money is achieved by the BBC through its spending of the licence fee," he said.

"In order to fulfil this responsibility, the Trust commissions and publishes a series of independent value for money reviews each year after discussing its programme with the comptroller and auditor general - the head of the National Audit Office."