BBC Trust

The BBC Governance review, announced by Lord Patten on his appointment in May 2011, set out to establish whether the current governance arrangements could be improved within the framework of the Royal Charter, which runs until 2017.

The review concluded that governance of the BBC is workable, generally effective and provides benefits to licence fee payers and the industry but made some recommendations intended to strengthen the current arrangements. Following this review, we took action in the following areas:

• a clearer division of responsibilities between the Trust and the Executive Board
• a wider market impact role for Ofcom
• an improved editorial complaints and compliance system, and more regular impartiality reviews
• simplifying the rules governing the BBC’s services

You can read a copy of the final report, agreed by the Trust in July 2011, here:

In September 2013, Trust Chairman Lord Patten and BBC Director General Tony Hall wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to set out plans for a comprehensive review of the BBC’s internal governance systems and structures. That review was published in December 2013.