BBC Trust publishes NAO switchover report

The BBC Trust has published an independent review by the National Audit Office of how the BBC is meeting its switchover obligations as outlined in its Royal Charter.

The NAO report made three recommendations: first, that the BBC should "strengthen its oversight of switchover work with independent representation on the project governance board"; second, that more stringent evaluations should be implemented to determine the value of its investment in Digital UK , the body overseeing switchover; and third, that appropriate lessons are learned from the provision of a switchover help scheme in Whitehaven before the contract for a national version of the scheme is awarded.

"We would like to thank the NAO for carrying out this review which will help the Trust to ensure that the BBC can fulfil its obligations under the Royal Charter to take a leading role in digital switchover whilst achieving value for money for licence fee payers," said BBC trustee Jeremy Peat. "The Trust accepts the report's conclusions and has discussed the NAO's findings and recommendations with the BBC Executive. The Trust is content that the BBC management team's proposed actions are an appropriate response and endorses them. Furthermore, the Trust will continue to scrutinise the BBC's preparations for digital switchover and will commission a review of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme around 2009 to monitor the operational value for money of the scheme."