The BBC's board of governors is to be scrapped, Tessa Jowell said yesterday.

Publishing a green paper on the corporation, the culture secretary said that the licence fee would continue in its current form for the foreseeable future.

But she said that current governance structures "lack clarity and accountability".

"There is widespread consensus that the current model of governance is unsustainable," she warned.

Day-to-day management will be carried out by the executive board, headed by the current director general but strengthened by more non-executive directors.

But a new BBC trust will judge management performance, approve budgets and oversee strategy.

The Conservatives said the government was "content merely to tinker at the edges of the existing structure".