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The BBC Trust was the governing body of the

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(BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of licence-fee payers. On 12 May 2016, it was announced in the House of Commons that, under the next

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

, the regulatory functions of the BBC Trust were to be transferred to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

. The trust was established by the 2007

BBC Charter The BBC Charter is a royal charter setting out the arrangements for the governance of the British Broadcasting Corporation. An accompanying agreement recognises its editorial independence and sets out its public obligations in detail. The ini ...

, which came into effect on 1 January in that year. The trust, and a formalised Executive Board, replaced the former

Board of Governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

. The decision to establish the trust followed the

Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour Party (UK), Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dav ...

, which had heavily criticised the BBC for its coverage of the death of David Kelly; Labour's political opponents, as well as large numbers of its supporters, saw the Hutton Inquiry as a whitewash, designed to deflect criticism from

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...

's government.

In summary, the main roles of the Trust are in setting the overall strategic direction of the BBC, including its priorities, and in exercising a general oversight of the work of the Executive Board. The Trust will perform these roles in the public interest, particularly the interest of licence fee payers. — BBC Royal Charter (2006)

The BBC Trust closed on 2 April 2017 at the expiry of the 2007 royal Charter, which had a 10-year lifespan. Labour had lost power in 2010, and other political parties had established a parliamentary majority by the time it came to the moment for a new royal charter to be written. Governance of the BBC was transferred to the new

BBC Board The BBC Board is the governing board of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Board replaced the BBC Trust in April 2017. The chairman is Richard Sharp. The chair and four non-executive members representing the four nations are appointed by ...

in April 2017, with

assuming regulatory duties.

Trustees

The royal charter established that the trust should have twelve trustees, including a chairman, a vice-chairman and a member for each of the Home Nations of the United Kingdom. Appointments to the BBC Trust are made by

Queen-in-Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...

, on the recommendation of UK government ministers. The final BBC Trust membership comprised: *

Rona Fairhead Rona Alison Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead (''née'' Haig; born 28 August 1961) is a Conservative life peer and businesswoman. She served as Minister of State at the Department for International Trade from 2017 to 2019. Prior to that, she was the ...

– chairman of the BBC Trust; former chief executive of the Financial Times Group * Sir Roger Carr – vice-chairman of the BBC Trust; chairman of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

Sonita Alleyne Sonita Alleyne, (born 1968) is the Barbados-born British co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, a cross-platform media production company. Alleyne is a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, ...

– a former radio executive. * Richard Ayre – former deputy chief executive of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

. * Mark Damazer – Master of St Peter's College, Oxford and former controller of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

and

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

. *

Mark Florman Carl Alan Mark Florman (born 2 November 1958) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and former CEO of the merchant banking group, Maizels, Westerberg & Co. and Time Partners Limited. Florman led the review of governance f ...

– the Trustee for England; co-founder and former CEO of the merchant banking group Maizels, Westerberg & Co. * Bill Matthews – the Trustee for Scotland. * Aideen McGinley – the Trustee for Northern Ireland; a former NI civil servant. * Nicholas Prettejohn – a senior City executive. * Elan Closs Stephens – the Trustee for Wales; a former chairman of Welsh-language broadcaster

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

. *

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– a former managing director of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. * Lord Williams of Baglan – a former diplomat, appointed as International Trustee. Trustees served for terms of up to five years (usually four), after which they may be re-appointed.

Former members

Since 2006 the following people were members of the BBC Trust: *

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

, now Lord Grade of Yarmouth – former chairman, left the BBC to become executive chairman of ITV plc. * Dermot Gleeson – finished two terms, as a BBC governor and a BBC trustee. *

Richard Tait Richard Graham Tait CBE (born 22 May 1947) is a British journalist and Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. He had been a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was replaced by Richard ...

– finished two terms, as a BBC governor and a BBC trustee. *

Chitra Bharucha Chitra Bharucha MBE, FRCPath, FRSA, (born 6 April 1945) is a former consultant haematologist and former vice chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. She became the first woman and first South Asian ...

– former vice chairman, and acting chairman; retired after one term. *

Alison Hastings Alison Jane Hastings (born 14 August 1965) is the member for England on the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and a Vice President of the British Board of Film Classification. She was educated at the Folkestone ...

– former National Trustee for England; finished two terms, a former regional newspaper editor. * Janet Lewis-Jones – former National Trustee for Wales; retired after one term. * David Liddiment – finished two terms, a former director of programmes at ITV. *

Jeremy Peat Professor Jeremy Alastair Peat (born 20 March 1945) is a member of the Competition Commission and former director of the David Hume Institute. He is a former member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, wh ...

– former National Trustee for Scotland; finished two terms, as a BBC Governor and a BBC Trustee. * Sir Michael Lyons – former chairman; retired after one term. * Dame Patricia Hodgson – who resigned to take up a position on the board of media regulator

. *

Rotha Johnston Dame Rotha Geraldine Diane Johnston, DBE (born August 1959) is a Northern Irish entrepreneur in commerce and property. Johnston is chair of Northern Ireland Screen, a non-executive director of Northern Ireland Electricity and an independent boar ...

– finished two terms as BBC trustee for Northern Ireland. * Mehmuda Mian – finished two terms as BBC trustee. * Anthony Fry – stood down from the trust in the middle of his second term to join the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

as chairman. *

Lord Patten of Barnes Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...

– former chairman, resigned mid-term after heart surgery. * Diane Coyle – finished two terms as a BBC trustee and vice-chairman of the BBC Trust.

Chairman

The trust was originally to be chaired by

, the then chairman of the board of governors. However, in November 2006 before the trust formally took over from the governors as the governing body of the corporation, Grade left the BBC to become executive chairman of ITV.

, then vice-chairman, became the acting chairman. Sir Michael Lyons was subsequently appointed the first permanent chairman of the BBC Trust, taking up the position from 1 May 2007. In September 2010 Sir Michael wrote to the secretary of state, Jeremy Hunt, stating that he did not wish to be considered for a second term as chairman. He stood down from the post in April 2011. Following a recruitment process led by the government,

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life ...

was appointed to the role and began a four-year term on 1 May 2011. Patten resigned in May 2014 following heart surgery. He was replaced by the vice chairman, Diane Coyle, in an acting capacity until a new chairman was selected. On 31 August 2014 it was announced that

would become the new chairman of the trust.

Remuneration of trustees

The remuneration for BBC Trustees was determined by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and paid for by the BBC. The table below shows the base fees for Trustees during 2014–15. The chairman is expected to spend 3 days a week on trust business, and the vice-chairman up to 2 days. Other trustees are expected to spend 1–2 days a week. Since 2010 BBC Trust members have been taking an 8.3% reduction in fees (equivalent to one month's pay). In October 2010 the government announced that the fee for the chairman of the BBC Trust would be reduced from £143,000 to £110,000.

The trust's work

In October 2007, the trust approved the BBC's strategic direction for the next six years, demanding a high-quality and more distinctive BBC. The trust has approved several new services, including the

iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

and the Gaelic Digital Service,

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal ...

. The trust denied a proposal to launch a new local video service in late 2008 due to concerns about competition with commercial producers, especially newspapers moving online. The trust has also recently demanded that the BBC makes more programmes outside London. In May 2008 the trust published its review of the BBC's website (bbc.co.uk), criticising the service for financial mismanagement, including a £36 million overspend. The departure of

Ashley Highfield Ashley Highfield Is Chairman of Oyster Yachts Limited (since May 2018), makers of luxury British sailing boats. He is also founder of Henley Partners limited, his vehicle for investing in and advising businesses across a range of sectors. He is a ...

, Director of the BBC's technology department has been linked to the findings of the review. In June 2008, the trust was highly critical of the BBC's network news reporting of issues in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. The trust was heavily criticised in the popular press for its review of the amount the BBC pays for "top talent" and failing to answer whether stars like

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...

and Graham Norton were value for money. Ross was reported to earn £6 million a year.

2009 Editorial Standards Committee report

In April 2009, the Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) of the BBC Trust published a report into three complaints brought against two news items involving Middle East editor

Jeremy Bowen Jeremy Francis John Bowen (born 6 February 1960) is a Welsh journalist and television presenter. He was the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1995 and 2000 and the BBC Middle East editor from 2005 to 2022, before being ...

. The report received widespread coverage in the UK and in Israel.Jonny Paul
''Complaints of BBC bias partially upheld''
Jeruslam Post, 15 April 2009''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 16 April 2009
Bowen 'breached rules on impartiality'
/ref> Robert Fisk, ''

'', 16 April 2009
Robert Fisk: How can you trust the cowardly BBC?
/ref>''

'', 16 April 2009
Leading article: Bad judgement
/ref> The complaints included 24 allegations of breaching BBC guidelines on accuracy or impartiality of which three were fully or partially upheld. Antony Lerman, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 16 April 2009
What did Jeremy Bowen do wrong?
/ref> The Independent's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk was particularly critical of the ESC report, saying that the BBC Trust is "now a mouthpiece for the Israeli lobby". An editorial in ''

'' said that the report demonstrated "a terrible absence of good judgement". Michael Lyons' response to the editorial, also published in The Independent, said that it is important to take complaints seriously and to be scrupulously careful about standards of accuracy and impartiality so that the BBC's reputation for fairness and impartiality is maintained.

Fate of the trust

The concept of the BBC Trust came under severe political criticism once the Labour government had left power, in 2010. Both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats – who comprised the main parliamentary parties other than Labour – were highly critical of the trust model, stating that it has "failed". Both parties favoured some kind of external regulation of the BBC. Despite some early rhetoric about abolishing the trust, the then Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, made clear that he would only act within the envelope set by the

, so major changes were not possible until the charter expired after the end of 2016. Mr Hunt has instead expressed his support for changing the name of the trust and installing a new non-executive chairman on the BBC's executive board. The subsequent

Culture Secretary The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department ...

, Maria Miller had not made clear a position on whether the BBC Trust would exist under the next BBC Charter, although it was widely expected that there would be some form of management and governance re-structure. On 1 March 2016, an independent review by Sir David Clementi was published, which recommended that the BBC Trust be disbanded. Citing previous controversies involving the BBC, such as its handling of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, a ''Newsnight'' report which falsely implied that Lord McAlpine was involved in child abuse (due to mistaken identity), controversies involving

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...

and

, and other internal issues, he concluded that the trust was "flawed" and unable to sufficiently self-regulate. He suggested that the BBC be overseen by a unitary board "charged with responsibility for meeting the obligations placed on it under the royal charter and agreement, and responsibility for the interests of licence fee payers", and that

take on the BBC's regulatory oversight. Clementi stated that his proposal would give the BBC "no hiding place", and explained that "no good governance system will ever guarantee good outcomes, but if you have a single board with a good governance system, you know who's responsible. One of the difficulties in those cases was it wasn't quite clear if the trust were dealing with it or whether the executive board were dealing with it. It fell to both of them and neither of them." The proposal to scrap the trust was officially presented to Parliament as part of a charter review white paper on 12 May 2016. Governance of the BBC was transferred to the new

in April 2017. Sir David Clementi became the new chairman of the board.

The Trust Unit

The trust was supported by a team of 70 staff, known as the Trust Unit. These staff were independent from the BBC Executive and included specialists in audience research, performance analysis, and finance. The Trust Unit was headed by its Director, Alex Towers.

Audience councils

The BBC Trust had four audience councils, which provided advice to the trust on the views of the audience in each Nation of the UK. The four councils were: * Audience Council England * Audience Council Scotland * Audience Council Wales * Audience Council Northern Ireland

References

External links

* {{Authority control Trust * * 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom 2017 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2007 Organizations disestablished in 2017