Getting the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers

• Trust home
• About the Trust
• News
• Our work
• Consultations
• Contact us

Search

Search the BBC Trust

1. You are here:
2. About the Trust
3. Who we are
4. The Trustees
5. Other key relationships

Other key relationships

We work with licence fee payers and with a wide range of institutions to help us to get the best out of the BBC.

Licence fee payers

Licence fee payers have a powerful voice in the way the BBC is run. We have a duty under the Charter to "actively seek the views of, and engage with, licence fee payers." We do this in many different ways including formal consultations, public meetings, local radio phone-ins, and through the work of our Audience Councils.

Audience Councils

There are four Audience Councils – for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They help to ensure that we keep in close touch with the views of licence fee payers from all parts of the UK. You can find out more about the Councils on the Audience Councils page.

Audience Councils

Parliament

Parliament keeps a close eye on the work of the BBC through debates in both Houses, and through select committee hearings where we can be called to account for the performance of the BBC.

Government

The Charter guarantees the BBC's independence from government. Guarding that independence is always one of our top priorities.

But of course we have many dealings with government – in particular with the ministry responsible for broadcasting policy, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). For example in 2008 we worked with DCMS to set the policy that governs when BBC programmes can accept finance that doesn't come from the licence fee.

Regulators

Some aspects of the BBC are regulated by outside bodies. On competition policy the BBC is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), and the European Commission, and Ofcom. Ofcom also regulates some other aspects of the BBC, for example the BBC is covered by Ofcom's Fairness Code.

Our relationship with Ofcom is set out in a memorandum of understanding.

National Audit Office

One of the most important things we do is ensure that licence fee payers get good value for money from the BBC. One way we do this is by working with the National Audit Office (NAO) to commission independent value for money investigations. We publish the reports on this website, and we tell you how the BBC plans to respond to any recommendations. You can find the reports on the Value for money page.

Value for money reviews

BBC Executive Board

The BBC Executive Board oversees the day-to-day operations of the BBC. You can find more about how we work with the Executive in the Relationship with the Executive Board page.

Relationship with the Executive Board

In this section:

• The Trustees
• How Trustees are appointed
• Relationship with Executive Board
• Other key relationships
• Register of interests
• Expenses
• Hospitality register