Responding to the release of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on the renewal of the BBC’s Royal Charter, Equity welcomes many of the recommendations – including the end to political appointments and the introduction of a permanent Charter. However, the union warns there is not enough focus on the BBC’s cultural output, despite culture and entertainment being written into its public purposes and missions.
Licence Fee payers should not be subsidising profit for commercial independent producers when it makes no economic or creative sense to do so.
Paul W Fleming, Equity General Secretary
The Committee’s report has been released in the context of the ongoing BBC Charter Review, and Equity is pleased it recognises the benefits the BBC brings to national life, including support for the creative economy, talent creation, social cohesion and providing trusted information that supports our democracy. Equity agrees with the committee that the BBC must not be left to a managed decline. The committee makes a series of recommendations on how to maintain a means of universal funding and improve how the BBC operates, including Equity’s call for the end of political appointments to the BBC board.
Responding to the report, Paul W Fleming, Equity general secretary, said: “It’s good to see several of Equity’s proposals were taken up by the Committee in its recommendations, including the end to political appointments on the Board, a permanent Charter for the corporation and the development of public service algorithms – these all have the potential to help the BBC thrive.
“We would like to see these proposed reforms extending further to a re-founding of the BBC as an arm of the welfare state, in which arts and culture are enshrined as an essential public service – alongside health, education, housing and social security.
“Too narrow a focus on the BBC’s news output, despite news and current affairs only making up about 10% of the BBC’s content spend, means we do not hear enough about the corporation’s cultural achievements. One of the BBC’s five public purposes is to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world, and one of its three overarching missions is to entertain.
“The Committee should also have scrutinised the strain placed on the Licence Fee by the BBC’s de facto internal market, and current charter requirements to outsource a certain percentage of content. Licence Fee payers should not be subsidising profit for commercial independent producers when it makes no economic or creative sense to do so. As part of a commitment to the “biggest wave of insourcing in a generation”, the new charter should free the BBC to produce and own its content as it sees fit.”
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report is likely to influence the next Royal Charter of the BBC. The Royal Charter is the constitutional basis for the corporation, and is reviewed approximately every 10 years. It sets out the BBC’s objectives and purposes, as well as how it is governed and regulated. The current charter runs until 31 December 2027. We are expecting the publication of the government’s White Paper on the BBC in late 2026 or early 2027, following the Green Paper on 16 December 2025.
