Brum brum

DG Thommo seems to be standing firm on moving BBC factual programming out of The Mailbox in Birmingham - here's some bits of his reply to questions from local Libdem MP John Hemming.

In recent years the BBC Birmingham Factual business has shrunk, partly as a result of changes to daytime commissioning, with the loss last year of To Buy or Not to Buy and Country Tracks which have not been re-commissioned. There has been a sizeable reduction in documentary commissions in Birmingham. Two years ago we moved production of the RHS flower shows from Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park and See Hear moved to the department, but the fast moving nature of the business and the recession has meant that this has not been sufficient to sustain a shrinking hub. Birmingham has just lost the Hairy Bikers commission, which would anyway force a substantial reduction of the existing base. That is the nature of this highly competitive industry, and the sad reality is that for the genres it’s competing in, the Birmingham base is too small to compete. Added to which, we would have had to invest substantially in Birmingham to get it ready for new digital technologies and that is simply not cost effective. 


Our rationale is to get our bases down to (preferably) two bases for every genre, and to ensure that those bases are sustainable, able to compete and of a scale to justify investment in new technologies. Across the sites, production will be configured as follows: 


Belfast – Current Affairs and Daytime 
Glasgow – Arts (now lead) and Science (minor) 
Salford – Religion and Ethics Bristol – Features, including Daytime (now lead) and Natural History Cardiff – Features (with Bristol) and Documentaries (now lead) 
London – History, Science (lead), Features (now minor), Current Affairs (lead), Arts (now minor) 


Mr Hemming hasn't given up; here's part of his reply.


The Midlands region (East and West Midlands) has a combined population of 9,440,000 ..... which is about 19% of the population of England. According to the BBC’s own economic report, the Midlands (East and West) receives £127m in expenditure, whilst all of England receives a total expenditure of £3,758m. Therefore only 3% of BBC money for England is spent in the Midlands region which contains 19% of its population. How can you justify the Midlands received such a small disproportionate amount spent on it ? Can you assure me that in future, 19% of all BBC money for England will be spent in the Midlands ?