The remit of Radio 4 is to be a mixed speech service, offering in-depth news and current affairs and a wide range of other speech output including drama, readings, comedy, factual and magazine programmes.

The service should appeal to listeners seeking intelligent programmes in many genres which inform, educate and entertain.

Radio 4 will continue to contribute towards the delivery of the BBC's public purposes in the range of ways set out in its service licence. Key developments in the way in which the service will contribute to each purpose are outlined below. These are designed to address the priorities identified by the BBC Trust, future-proof the delivery of the purposes, and address perceived gaps in delivery in line with strategies in the BBC's purpose plans.

1 Sustaining citizenship and civil society

• Radio 4 will provide extensive coverage and analysis of the London mayoral election and local elections, and comprehensive coverage of the national and European debate over the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty – the replacement for the draft EU constitution – and analysis of the issues behind it.
• The Radio 4 Debate: a new, occasional series of landmark debates will explore current issues of national concern in front of live audiences.

2 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence

• Priority: We will drive innovation in comedy through new, distinctive approaches to traditional formats, such as It's Later Than You Think with Marcus Brigstocke, a twist on the chat show.
• There will be a greater focus on fewer, longer-running drama series to create high impact, for example A Dance to the Music of Time, a six-part dramatisation of Anthony Powell's epic series of novels.
• We will encourage greater audience participation in cultural activities, for example through 'Neglected Classics' in Open Book, where major authors argue for their favourite neglected classics, allowing the audience to choose one to be dramatised in the Classic Serial.

3 Promoting education and learning

• Priority: We will continue to develop innovative landmark factual events such as World on the Move, a uniquely ambitious natural history project on animal migration following the journeys of creatures great and small on five continents.
• In factual programming, Radio 4 will focus more on high-impact seasons, for example with a Cosmology season to mark the inauguration of the world's biggest particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva.
• We will encourage audiences to engage and interact in new ways with factual content. For example, World on the Move and the 1968 season will both have an extensive online presence and user-generated content.

4 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

• Radio 4 will continue to commission a significant proportion of output from the English regions and other UK nations, including:
  – World on the Move, a 40-week live natural history series from Bristol
  – A documentary series on Islam and science from Scotland
  – Writing the Century, a 12-week series for Woman's Hour Drama produced in Manchester
• We will continue to cover a range of cultural events from across the UK, including festivals in Edinburgh, Hay, Cheltenham and Southwold, with comedy, entertainment and discussion.

5 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK

• Priority: We will increase the impact of coverage of global events, for example with 1968 – Reality or Myth, a major season of documentaries and drama remembering and analysing a turbulent year, including a four-minute programme every day for six months that recreates formative events around the world through archive audio.
• Radio 4 will continue to tackle a wide range of highly topical international issues. For example, in the year of the Beijing Olympics, the Reith Lectures will explore the modern history of China, the challenges it faces and the challenges it poses to the rest of the world.
• Empire of Liberty, a multi-part narrative history of the USA, will start as the presidential election campaign moves towards its climax, while in The Uneasy Superpower James Naughtie will examine the insecurity, internal and , that preoccupies America and ask what it means for the future.

6 Delivering the benefit of emerging communications technologies

• Priority: We will relaunch the Radio 4 website on Web 2.0 architecture, enabling much easier searching and aggregation of content, and we will expand and promote the range of podcasts.
• Coverage of technology issues on the station will be rejuvenated through the trial of a new information technology strand.
• Active promotion of BBC 7 will continue on air and through complementary scheduling, making it known as the premier digital destination for entertaining speech radio.

Unless otherwise stated, all commitments are minimum hours or percentages and include originations, repeats and acquisitions.
All conditions are annual unless otherwise stated.

Sustaining citizenship and civil society

• 2,500 hours of news and current affairs programmes

Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence

• 600 hours of original drama and readings (excluding repeats)
• 180 hours of original comedy (excluding repeats)
• Contribute to BBC Radio's commitment to commission at least 10% of eligible hours of output from independent producers

Promoting education and learning

• 200 hours of original documentaries (excluding repeats)

Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

• 200 hours of original religious programming (excluding repeats)