BBC Trust

The BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2011/12, published today, set out the BBC’s main achievements for audiences in Wales over the last year.

Programming highlights from the year included The Story of Wales presented by Huw Edwards, which was the second most popular of any BBC One programme shown in Wales in the year. This year also saw the first programmes made at the new BBC drama production facility Roath Lock in Cardiff Bay, with Casualty joining Sherlock, Merlin and Upstairs Downstairs. The BBC’s longest-running soap opera, Pobol y Cwm, has had a good year since it moved production to Roath Lock, maintaining high audiences of 51,000 per episode following five years of sustained growth.

In news, more than half of all adults in Wales (1.4 million) watched at least one BBC Wales Today bulletin each week, up from 1.2 million last year. And in a National Assembly for Wales election year, BBC Radio Wales toured the country exploring the issues. Elsewhere, BBC Cymru Wales provided comprehensive coverage of the 2011 National Eisteddfod in Wrexham on Radio Cymru, S4C and online, which was greatly appreciated by audiences across Wales.

This year the BBC and S4C reached an agreement on the future funding and governance of S4C, which will be mainly funded from the licence fee from 2013. The arrangements protect the editorial and managerial independence of S4C, while ensuring accountability to the BBC Trust for the licence fee funding spent by the service.

BBC Trustee for Wales Elan Closs Stephens said:

“The BBC in Wales has gone from strength to strength this year with some great programmes for audiences in Wales and across the UK, and the new facility at Roath Lock shaping up to be a production powerhouse. The new agreement reached between the BBC and S4C is also good news for Welsh-speaking audiences with more opportunities for collaboration in future.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to reflect the needs and concerns of Welsh audiences as the changes following the BBC’s new strategy Delivering Quality First are implemented across the BBC.”

A review of BBC performance in Wales carried out by the Trust’s independent advisory body, Audience Council Wales, also published today, welcomed the opening of the new Roath Lock production facility on time and on budget, and the new S4C agreement.

The Council also set out priorities for the Trust to consider for the forthcoming year, including increasing the amount of comparative news stories highlighting policy and legal differences across the UK’s nations; and the need to safeguard and strengthen the BBC’s core services aimed specifically at Wales.

The Audience Council expressed deep concern about the lack of DAB coverage for BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, and concern about the impact on the BBC Wales opt-outs from BBC Two following the planned introduction of a BBC Two HD channel. However it did acknowledge the work that had gone into increasing FM coverage of BBC Radio Wales, bringing it above 80 per cent for the first time this year.

Notes to Editors

The BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2011/12 can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport

The Audience Council Wales Review can be found at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/who_we_are/audience_councils/wales/annual_review.html