Consultation for disclosure of results of operation for online

Julian Todd made this Freedom of Information request to British Broadcasting Corporation

British Broadcasting Corporation did not have the information requested.

From: Julian Todd

14 July 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

According to the Statement of Operation for Online,[1] the BBC
operates a very detailed database of whole website commissions,
creative inputs, content ingest costs, application technologies,
content rights, customised software licences and
contractors/freelancer/sole traders engaged on a "deliverables"
basis -- in order to verify its Quota Requirement of External Spend
on Future Media & Technology, which was reported as being 31% in
the Annual Report and Accounts 2007/08.

Paragraph 3.7 of the Statement of Operation says:

"After considerable consultation with the new media industry, it
was agreed that publishing the following performance metrics will
be helpful to the industry whilst not compromising commercial
confidentiality:

* Total BBC spend on its online services
* Total excluded activity
* Total eligible external spend and percentage attained
* Headline performance by BBC division
* A breakdown of eligible spend by project type
* % of spend of commissions from the Approved Supplier List
* Freelancer spend
* Number of new media suppliers contracted over a 12 month period
* Number of new media suppliers not previously contracted by the
BBC
* A national/regional breakdown of commissions"

(I have not as yet been able to find any details of these
performance metrics on any BBC or trust web-page.)

May I please have have a copy of all reports, arguments, advice,
and evidence supplied by the interested parties within the new
media industries to the BBC as part of the aforementioned
"considerable consultation"?

[1]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/futur...

Yours faithfully,

Julian Todd.

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

15 July 2008

Dear Mr Todd,
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, about New Media Performance Metrics, which was
received on the 14th July '08. We shall deal with your request as promptly
as possible and, at the latest, within 20 working days. If you have any
queries about your request please contact us at the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20080766
Kind regards.
The Information Policy and Compliance Team
BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2][BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
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References

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

8 August 2008

Attachment RFI20080766 final response.pdf
84K Download View as HTML

Attachment RFI20080766 Disclosure Document BBC External Spend Performance Data 0708.pdf
116K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Todd,

Please find attached the response to your request for information which
has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

<<RFI20080766 - final response.pdf>> <<RFI20080766 - Disclosure Document -
BBC External Spend Performance Data 0708.pdf>>

Kind Regards

Louise Wright
Information Policy and Compliance

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2][BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.

References

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1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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From: Julian Todd

20 August 2008

Dear FOI Enquiries,

Thank you for your partial reply to my request for details about
the "considerable consultation with the new media industry" where
"it was agreed that publishing the following performance metrics
will be helpful to the industry whilst not compromising commercial
confidentiality."

I was told that the information provided as part of the
consultation process is held by multiple departments within the BBC
and by third parties, so it would exceed the limit for dealing with
my request.

The total lack of transparency expressed in the policy about who
receives these contracts and what each one is for is a serious
matter, and quite difficult to justify in the circumstances. The
BBC is the customer and is able to set the terms in advance of how
open they want to be about who they are contracting for these
services -- and whether their entire database of jobs is posted
on-line.

If this policy of secrecy resulted from consultations with outside
businesses and potential contractors, there should at the very
least be some accountability for who wanted it that way, and a
statement of their reasons.

Therefore I am narrowing my FOI request from "all reports,
arguments, advice, and evidence supplied by the interested parties"
to

* any summary report of the consultations laying out the arguments
for this policy of confidentiality

* any plans for when this policy could be reconsidered.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd.

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

21 August 2008

Dear Mr Todd

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, about the BBC's consultation with the new media
industry, which was received on 21st August. We shall deal with your
request as promptly as possible and, at the latest, within 20 working
days. If you have any queries about your request please contact us at
the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20080902.

Kind regards.

The Information Policy and Compliance Team
BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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Francis Irving left an annotation ( 8 September 2008)

Julian's blog post about this request:

http://www.freesteel.co.uk/wpblog/2008/0...

Link to this

From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

15 September 2008

Attachment RFI20080902 final response.pdf
65K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Todd

Please find attached the response to your request for information,
reference RFI20080902

<<RFI20080902 - final response.pdf>>
Yours sincerely
Rachel Hallett

BBC Information Policy and Compliance
Room 2252, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2]mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.

References

Visible links
1. file://www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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From: Julian Todd

23 September 2008

Dear L Stiller,

Thank you for your reply dated 15 September 2008 to my FOI request
(reference: RFI20080902). In it, you explained:

"""The consultation process was part of a BBC project looking at
ways to increase transparency in the BBC’s activities without
compromising commercial sensitivity and, therefore, we did not
create the report you have requested."""

Please can you send me details about said BBC project looking at
ways to increase transparency in its activities, including:

* the name or other identifier of the project, its correspondence
address, its extent, and when it was initiated

* the list of legitimate issues this project considers would
compromise commercial sensitivity

* the list of ways for increasing transparency in the BBC's
activities which have so far been considered by this project

* the list of ways which have been accepted

* the list of ways which have been rejected, which commercial
entities made objections, and their objections

* the future plans for this project.

Thank you for considering this request. I hope this information is
available. It would seem reasonable that a project that is looking
for ways to increase transparency should itself be transparent.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

24 September 2008

Dear Mr Todd

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, which was received on 23rd September. We shall
deal with your request as promptly as possible and, at the latest,
within 20 working days. If you have any queries about your request
please contact us at the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20081046.

Kind regards.

The Information Policy and Compliance Team BBC Freedom of Information

Room 2252, BBC White City, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS, UK

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

20 October 2008

Attachment RFI20081046 final response.pdf
82K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Todd,

Please find attached the response to your request for information which
has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

<<RFI20081046 - final response.pdf>>

Kind Regards

Louise Wright
Information Policy and Compliance

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2][BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal
views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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Julian Todd left an annotation (30 October 2008)

In summary, therefore, the BBC's "considerable consultation with the new media industry", which lead to the establishment of an unusually stringent level of confidentiality regarding their database of suppliers, consisted of a brief off-the-record working group which left no records or indication of who requested this level of confidentiality, and what their arguments were.

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