Un-diarised

Two brave non-executives at the BBC grilled their non-executive chairman Richard Sharp over his behaviour whilst in post, and found no conflict of interest and no concerns about his integrity. The names of the two, picked from Sir Nick Serota, Dame Elan Closs Stephens and Shirley Garrood, are peculiarly not disclosed in the minutes of the BBC's Nominations Committee which record bits of the interview.  "No concerns" is entertaining - they found three meetings with senior political figures which had not been noted in BBC records, and relationships with two candidates for jobs declared but not recorded. 

Here's some of the key minutes: 

Discussing the interview session, the Committee noted that it had heard from the Chairman about the nature of his relationship with the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, as well as other senior political figures. The Chairman had described the nature of his relationship with the former Prime Minister and characterised it as a largely professional one, with only limited social engagement. He accepted that he had taken it as read that the relationship was on the record and widely known, but that it could have been more formally declared. He also stated that he did not regularly meet socially with the individual or his wife.

The Committee had reviewed a list of recorded meetings with senior political figures, including the former Prime Minister; three of these had not been noted in BBC records. The Committee also noted that some of the meetings had been social events – a meeting at Chequers in May 2021 and further meetings on 10 September 2021 and 8 May 2022. The Chairman confirmed that no personal financial matters in respect of the former PM were discussed at any of the meetings discussed with the Committee. The three social meetings had all been arranged at short notice. The Chairman gave assurance that all the meetings would have been notified to the Director-General and/or officially recorded by the BBC. BBC business had been discussed at two of these meetings, on 2 May 2021 and 10 September 2021. The Committee were satisfied that meetings where BBC business was discussed had been for the purposes of promoting the BBC interests, including the licence fee deal that was being negotiated at the time. The Chairman said that on reflection he would diarise meetings more carefully.

It was noted that the Chairman had a close relationship with the current Prime Minister, having been his first employer, but he considered the relationship to be professional and had only recently met with his family socially for the first time. 

The Committee had asked the Chairman if there were any other relationships or issues to declare. He stated that he had attended the Proms with the now current Prime Minister, who had paid for his own tickets, and he had also taken the DCMS Permanent Secretary for dinner, paying for this himself. Both of these events were to be expected in the role and known to the BBC, so did not raise any issues. The

Committee also noted that the Chairman donated his salary to charity. The Chairman noted he had declared a prior relationship with candidates during two recent recruitment processes, though these had not been formally recorded. It was agreed there was a need to be highly scrupulous about these issues and to place them on record where possible, as well as to minute them appropriately and proactively.

 

The three directors make three recommendations: 

There should be greater attention paid to the disclosure of relevant personal and professional interests at the start of meetings of the Board and its Committees, with an expectation that there would be a high level of disclosure by Board

The Board’s Code of Practice and Guidance should be assessed to make sure they were clear enough that personal and political as well as professional or pecuniary relationships should be considered for disclosure, including on appointment to roles; and

There should be a clearer process by which meetings between Board members and senior political figures – including social events – were diarised and notified to the BBC and to officials and subsequently minuted