BBC accused of wasting millions on props, costumes and catering

The BBC is wasting millions of pounds of licence payers' money every year by dealing with more than 17,000 suppliers, a committee of MPs warns today.
The Commons public accounts committee attacks the BBC for the expensive way it procures some £531m of equipment every year, when savings could be made by using more central contracts.
The equipment covers everything from make-up, props, costumes and stage scenery to audio-visual aids and studio cameras. It also includes catering, office stationery, market research, security contracts , and courier services.
The committee's report reveals that a new central electronic purchasing system has failed to cut costs as much as had been hoped. The system - which cost the BBC £150,000 a year to install across 4,500 computers - allowed staff to make purchases online.
But licences on about 2,000 machines were never used and some 780 staff have now been removed from the system because it was costing more to license them to use it than any savings they were making.
The system cut the cost of placing orders from £38 to £6. However, the BBC spent more than £200m on buying equipment outside the system, through local deals, and it made almost 38,000 individual purchases from suppliers with which it had no central contract.
The MPs' report says the BBC may be on target to save £75m over three years but questions whether the savings are as high as claimed. It points out that a 4.8% cut in temporary procurement staff to cut the total bill by £2.5m came a year after the BBC had doubled its spending on temporary staff from £26.3m to £52.8m. The BBC blamed exceptional circumstances, including hiring technical staff to set up the new iPlayer for TV programmes for that year's steep rise in staff costs.
Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said: "I welcome the finding that the BBC is on course to hit its own target of saving a total of £75m over three years in respect of its spending on goods and services. A closer analysis reveals, however, that the percentage savings were lowest in the areas where the BBC spends the most. There is a lot more that the BBC can do to trim its procurement bill. It should make sure that its staff are fully aware that buying under central contracts can save a lot of money. It should look for further opportunities to use electronic auctions so that potential suppliers can compete online for business."
A BBC Trust spokesman said: "The BBC is committed to achieving the highest levels of efficiency to deliver licence fee payers value for money. To that end, we have already accepted the [National Audit Office's] specific recommendations to improve processes further in order to deliver even more savings and will review carefully the additional recommendations made today by the PAC."

'Too loud' TV ads to be banned

The days of having to dive for the remote control to turn down noisy TV commercials look to be numbered, with new rules set to be introduced banning excessively loud ads.

Guidelines on sound levels will be introduced into the TV advertising code on July 7, stating that "advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident".

The move to tighten rules governing the sounds levels in TV ads comes after the Advertising Standards Authority received more than 100 complaints in 2007 from viewers complaining that some commercials were too loud.

"Often the problem arises because the audio files used in the ads have been compressed, making quieter sounds more pronounced or 'punchy'," said the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, the body responsible for writing the TV ad code.

"The result is that ads can sound subjectively louder than the programmes around which they appear."

To guard against this the new BCAP guidelines will state, specifically, that the "maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material".

The body has held a full public consultation on the issue with the aim for the new rules to "provide more certainty for broadcasters" and minimise the annoyance "that can be caused to viewers".

"BCAP were acutely aware of the frustration that excessively loud or seemingly noisy ads were causing consumers," said a spokesman for the Committee for Advertising Practice.
"The consultation has taken account of their concerns and will ensure a level playing field across all ads in the same commercial break. This should help prevent consumers having to turn down the volume during ad breaks."