Mandatory

Nine pages of minutes suggest the BBC Board meeting for December might have had a few participants nodding off on Zoom. 

In a range of anxiety-raising notes, the minutes reveal that Tim Davie's Across The UK initiative, launched in March 2021, had only recent been brought to the Audit Committee: "Across the UK was presented for the first time and the Committee would have a more detailed session with the project team before the next meeting."   Let's hope that it all adds up, or the BBC has shed talent unnecessarily.  Also on the risk agenda: the "need to improve the completion rates of mandatory training courses."

It turns out that BBC Sounds is doing ok, apart from missing its key objective:  "The service was meeting its audience targets with the exception of the under-35 market, which was as challenging for audio as it was for TV."

You think all these non-execs would have had enough of each other after their terms of office. Not a bit of it. 

The Board approved the establishment of an alumni group for former Board members (including BBC Trustees, Governors and Executive Board directors) and former Executive Committee directors. The Board appointed Tanni Grey-Thompson to be the inaugural Chair of the alumni group.