BBC complaints should be revamped, say Lords

Media regulator Ofcom should have the final say on editorial complaints about the BBC's shows rather than the BBC Trust, a House of Lords report has said.

At an inquiry into the BBC's governance and regulation, the Lords communications committee called for "the convoluted and overly complicated complaints process at the BBC" to be revamped.

The committee said that it was hard for licence fee payers to know whom to contact with complaints, particularly because the roles of the BBC Trust and Ofcom partially overlapped.

The peers proposed a complaints "one-stop shop", in which the two regulators would "work together to resolve the regulation of impartiality and accuracy so that the BBC is no longer its own judge and jury in these matters".

The BBC Trust said that its new chairman Lord Patten was looking at the issues raised as part of his review of BBC governance.

Giving evidence to the committee, former BBC chairman Lord Michael Grade said that his experience complaining to the corporation was "grisly" due to the "absolutely hopeless" system.

The committee suggested that all complaints should be submitted to the BBC in the first instance, followed by an appeal to the Trust, as in the current system. However, a final appeal could be lodged with Ofcom if the complainant was not happy with the Trust's ruling. The media regulator would therefore have the final say on issues of impartiality and accuracy at the BBC.

Committee chairman Lord Inglewood said: "Ultimately, the BBC needs to be accountable to those who use and pay for it, at the same time as having the independence of its journalism, broadcasting and creativity protected from outside political interference."

The committee also warned that BBC creativity must not be "stifled by overly bureaucratic compliance culture".

The BBC strengthened its compliance procedures in 2008 after a series of controversies, including the 'Manuelgate' scandal over lewd messages left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on the answering machine of actor Andrew Sachs during Brand's Radio 2 show.

Earlier this month, BBC Radio 2 breakfast DJ Chris Evans criticised the corporation's "culture of compliance", describing the restrictions as "a complete pain in the backside". Only yesterday, the stars of drama New Tricks accused the BBC of "censorship" that was stifling innovation.

The Lords committee said: "We urge the BBC Trust to consider whether there are any ways of minimising the compliance culture within the BBC to reduce bureaucracy in programme making in so far as that is possible to ensure that the BBC's creativity is not compromised."

Reacting to the Lords report, a BBC Trust spokesman said: "We welcome the committee's report and we note their recommendations on the BBC complaints process.

"This, and a number of other issues the committee have raised, are being looked at as part of Lord Patten's governance review. The committee's recommendations will feed into the conclusions of the review."