大象传媒

Review of services for children

Mehmuda Mian, 大象传媒 Trustee, who led the review for the Trust, said:

"The Trust believes that the 大象传媒 must remain a cornerstone of high-quality, UK-produced children's content. This role is even more important given widespread concerns that other public service broadcasters are reducing their investment in children's output.

"In this review we found that the 大象传媒's services and content for children are performing very well. We have identified some areas for improvement but overall we would like to congratulate staff for the performance they have achieved with the resources available.

"Providing content that children enjoy and learn from is one of the core public service functions of the 大象传媒 and one that the Trust fully supports. To make sure that the 大象传媒 continues to produce great output the Trust has developed recommendations for actions from the 大象传媒 Executive in areas where improvements are needed. For example, we found that audience levels have fallen since children's programmes were moved earlier in 大象传媒 One's afternoon schedule. We have asked the Executive to address this decline and, as far as possible, to make sure that programmes for children are given priority at times children are likely to be watching.

"We've also highlighted some key risks and budgetary pressures which, left unchecked, could undermine future performance. We've asked the Executive to be clearer about its objectives for children's services and consider whether the budget is sufficient to meet these objectives. This exercise should be carried out to inform this year's budget and should address the risks we have highlighted in the report."

The Trust's key findings and recommendations are set out below. The Trust has asked the 大象传媒 Executive to report back by the summer.

Key findings

The 大象传媒's services and content for children are generally performing very well:

Children's content is popular and appeals to a wide audience

大象传媒 services generally outperform commercial providers in terms of usage levels and quality measures

The services make an important contribution to the 大象传媒's public purposes and, on the whole, offer good value for money for the licence fee payer.

Recommendations for improvement

Scheduling decisions should prioritise children's output unless there is a strong public value reason for not doing so

Newsround and Blue Peter make an important contribution to the 大象传媒's citizenship and global public purposes but audience levels have been falling in recent years and this decline has been exacerbated by recent schedule changes. The 大象传媒 Executive should boost audience numbers for content which contributes to these purposes

The arrangements for children's audio will have to change in light of very low audience numbers. The 大象传媒 Executive is developing a new proposal for consideration by the Trust

The 大象传媒 Executive should develop plans to address the decline in usage of the C大象传媒 website.

Strategy and budget

The 大象传媒 Executive should clarify its strategy for 大象传媒 children's output and at the same time consider whether the budget is sufficient to meet these objectives. This exercise should be carried out when the Executive review their financial plans in spring 2009. This review is a response to increasing pressures on the 大象传媒's income and the general economic situation. When doing so, the Executive should take into account the following risks to future delivery:

• There have been significant changes in the marketplace since the Executive last developed its investment plans, meaning the 大象传媒's role as a provider of UK originated content is now even more important
• If taken too far, the 大象传媒's 'fewer, bigger, better' strategy could limit the range of children's output and undermine the 大象传媒's ability to meet the needs of a diverse audience
• Children's efficiency targets are challenging given that expenditure cuts were made prior to the targets being introduced
• Investment plans rely on commercial income forecasts but these forecasts are challenging, especially in the current economic climate
• There are risks associated with the department's planned move to Salford in 2011, particularly in terms of staff retention.

The Trust also found that the current practice of recording programme costs against different internal budgets was influencing the 大象传媒's scheduling decisions about where to premiere children's programmes. The Trust will amend the C大象传媒 and CBeebies service licences to give the Executive greater flexibility to premiere content on the most suitable platform.

Ends

Notes to editors

• The Trust is required by the 大象传媒's Charter and Agreement to review every 大象传媒 service in a five year period. This is the second service review that the Trust has conducted, the first being of bbc.co.uk, which concluded in May 2008
• This service review covered the 大象传媒's content for children for children aged 12 and under. This includes the C大象传媒 and CBeebies channels, the C大象传媒 and CBeebies branded content on 大象传媒 One and 大象传媒 Two, radio and online, as well as content to support formal learning for primary school children
• As part of the review, the Trust consulted licence fee payers, industry representatives, reviewed performance data and carried out bespoke research. The Trust also held a special online consultation for children which allowed them to contribute their ideas about the 大象传媒 services
• The Trust is currently undertaking a review of 大象传媒 services and content for young people and this will report in the spring
• The Trust has announced that the two service reviews it undertakes in 2009 will be of the 大象传媒's television services yet to be reviewed (大象传媒 One, 大象传媒 Two, 大象传媒 Four and Red button) and of the radio stations, 大象传媒 Radio 2 and 大象传媒 Radio 6 Music.