Audience Council Wales

Last updated

The Audience Council Wales [1] was created upon establishment of the BBC Trust in January 2007. It replaced the Broadcasting Council for Wales which had many responsibilities the present council now has, and was set up in 1953 as a result of a White Paper on broadcasting published by the Conservative government of the time. [2] ACW was created in order to represent the interests of BBC audiences in Wales, [3] and in helping the BBC Trust understand the needs, interests and concerns of audiences. There are other councils for the other three nations in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has 11 members from across the principality. [4]

Contents

Role and remit

The Audience Council Wales scrutinises the BBC's services on behalf of BBC audiences in Wales and on behalf of BBC audiences across the UK alongside the other Councils in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. The role and responsibilities of the Audience Councils are set out in the BBC Charter.

Key areas of responsibility

The Audience Council Wales' responsibilities are defined as:

The Audience Council's programme of work will be aligned to the Trust's business cycle, but flexible enough to respond to the needs and concerns of audiences in Wales.

Membership of the Audience Council Wales

The Chair of the Audience Council is the BBC's National Trustee for Wales, Elan Closs Stephens, who also sits on the BBC Trust. As well as the chair there are twelve other members of Council, appointed on the recommendation of the Trust's Selection Panel for Wales. They will be appointed for initial terms of up to three years, with the option of an extension of tenure for up to a further 2 years. Employees of the BBC are not eligible for appointment.

Meetings of the Audience Council

The council holds at least eight meetings every year, usually in Cardiff, but also, on occasion, in other parts of Wales. Meetings discuss Council's input on behalf of audiences in Wales to the BBC Trust's accountability activities; and presentations on strategic plans for BBC services or genres by members of BBC Wales Board of Management and/or the BBC Management centrally are frequently given. [5]

Current ACW members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department for Culture, Media and Sport</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a department of His Majesty's Government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Probation Service</span> Criminal justice service in England and Wales

The Probation Service for England and Wales is a statutory criminal justice service, mainly responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community and the provision of reports to the criminal courts to assist them in their sentencing duties. It was established in its current form by the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act in April 2001, but has existed since 1907 as a set of area-based services interacting at arm's length with central government.

Mark Julian Byford was Deputy Director-General of the BBC and head of BBC journalism from 2004 to 2011. He chaired the BBC Journalism Board and was a member of the BBC Executive Board for thirteen years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)</span> Independent agency that regulates the electoral process in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission is the national election commission, created in 2001 as a result of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is an independent agency that regulates party and election finance and sets standards for how elections should be run.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Lottery Community Fund</span> UK non-departmental public body

The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to more than 130,000 projects in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts Council of Wales</span> Welsh Government sponsored body for funding the arts

The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.

The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (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, the regulatory functions of the BBC Trust were to be transferred to Ofcom.

The Birthday Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2006, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Alba</span> BBCs Scottish Gaelic language TV channel

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. The name Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. The station is unique in that it is the first channel to be delivered under a BBC licence by a partnership and was also the first multi-genre channel to come entirely from Scotland with almost all of its programmes made in Scotland.

Geraint Talfan Davies OBE DL is a Welsh journalist and broadcaster, and a long-serving trustee and chairman of many Welsh civic, arts, media and cultural organisations.

Audience Council England was created upon establishment of the BBC Trust in January 2007. It replaced the Broadcasting Council of England. Audience Council England plays a key role helping the BBC Trust understand the needs, interests and concerns of audiences. There are also councils in each of the nations: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Audience Council England meets at least six times per year to assess the BBC’s performance in England. It can meet in various locations around the nation. The regional panel chairs will give their regions view on the various BBC services, both national and regional, as well as provide their contribution to the Trust’s formal consultations.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at the Broadcasting House in London, originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company and evolved into its current state with its current name on New Year's Day 1927. The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, it employs over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,900 are in public-sector broadcasting.

The Audience Council Scotland (ACS) is an organisation that helps the BBC Trust understand the needs, interests and concerns of audiences in Scotland. It was created upon establishment of the BBC Trust in January 2007. It replaced the Broadcasting Council for Scotland which had many responsibilities the present Council now has.

The Birthday Honours 2005 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2005 to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2005. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged first by the country whose ministers advised the Queen on the appointments, then by honour, with classes and then divisions as appropriate.

Dame Elan Closs Stephens is a non-executive director and member for Wales on the BBC Board since 2017, and became its acting chairwoman from 27 June 2023. She specialises in cultural and broadcasting policy. She is also the Electoral Commissioner for Wales; Pro Chancellor of Aberystwyth University; and chair of the UNESCO’s International Prize for the Creative Economy jury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Making Music (organisation)</span>

Making Music is a UK membership organisation for leisure-time music groups of all musical genres, representing over 200,000 musicians and promoters of all levels and experience. Making Music provides them with practical services, guidance, artistic development opportunities and a collective voice for advocacy.

The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January.

The Chairman of the BBC is the head of the BBC Board, responsible for maintaining the independence of the BBC and overseeing the functioning of the BBC to fulfil its mission. The chairman leads the process for appointing the Director-General and can dismiss the Director-General. The chairman of the BBC also acts as the corporation's most senior representative to Parliament and the government, including the devolved administrations.

The BBC Board is the governing board of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The board replaced the BBC Trust in April 2017.

The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. They were announced on 1 June 2022, in anticipation of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. They were the last honours granted by the Queen before her death on 8 September 2022.

References

  1. ACW home page
  2. Jamie Medhurst (1 June 2010). A History of Independent Television in Wales. University of Wales Press. pp. 22–. ISBN   978-0-7083-2308-3.
  3. Dr Dawn Mannay (15 June 2016). Our Changing Land: Revisiting Gender, Class and Identity in Contemporary Wales. University of Wales Press. pp. 334–. ISBN   978-1-78316-886-6.
  4. Membership list
  5. "BBC - Role and remit - BBC Trust".
  6. "BBC - Who's who - BBC Trust".