News story

National Audit Office to be given free access to BBC books

Updated BBC Agreement brings transparency and value for money.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Jeremy Hunt today laid amendments to the BBC Agreement in Parliament, fulfilling a Coalition Agreement commitment to ensure greater transparency in the BBC’s operations.

The changes to the Agreement also formalise the new responsibilities given to the BBC under the terms of the television licence fee settlement of October 2010 including:

  • the BBC’s new funding responsibility for S4C, the World Service and BBC Monitoring
  • the BBC’s funding responsibilities and commitments to local TV and broadband

The new value-for-money arrangements also give the NAO the right to have full access to BBC information when carrying out its studies. Commenting on the changes, Jeremy Hunt said: “It is right that licence fee payers have confidence that the BBC is spending money wisely, so I am pleased that the NAO now have the right to full access to BBC information.”

Further information

Published 15 September 2011