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The WoCC is the 25 per cent of network television commissioning which is open to either in-house or indies to bid for. This is alongside the 50 per cent in-house guarantee and 25 per cent quota for indies. The WoCC was established in the Agreement as part of the last Charter renewal in 2006, and came into effect in April 2007. Over the last two years, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ has commissioned 40% of its network hours from indies.

This has resulted in an investment of nearly £700m of licence fee payers' money in the UK creative economy over the last two years, and helped to deliver the best ideas for audiences.

Since the first review in 2008, the Trust found that:

• The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is delivering on its requirements in the Charter and Agreement, with 40 per cent of programme hours being made by qualifying indies, and 57 per cent made in-house. The remaining 3 per cent is made by non-qualifying indies
• Independent producers have the same access and information as those in-house
• Strong progress has been made on the recommendations from the first review, including better information about the opportunities available to indies under the WoCC and smoothing out a number of initial problems with the operation and processes associated with the WoCC
• The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ uses nearly 200 separate indies for its network commissions. Across the UK, five per cent of network programmes comes from indies in Scotland, two per cent from Wales, 0.5 per cent from Northern Ireland, 21 per cent from the English regions and the remainder from London
• Despite no formal WoCC for non-network programming, 35 per cent was made by indies in the Nations and English regions for both of the last two years.

As part of the review, the Trust is making a number of recommendations where further progress should be made:

• Clarifying areas of uncertainty about the operation of the WoCC, including how tendering can be used to increase competition levels and increasing access for smaller indies and those based further away from commissioning hubs
• A review of the frequency of re-tendering for sports rights contracts in order to establish if competition could be increased
• A review of the quota for Knowledge to see if a reduction in the regulatory and self-imposed commitments could increase competition levels.

The Trust has asked the Executive to report back on the progress against these recommendations in six months' time.

Rotha Johnston, chair of the Trust's Finance and Compliance Committee, said:

"The WoCC was established as a way to foster competition for the best ideas, and we are very pleased to see that it is delivering exactly that.

"There has been a genuine cultural shift. The competitive window gives commissioners the freedom to pick the most creative programmes wherever they are made. That's good news for licence fee payers and the independent production community, and as a result, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is making a major investment in the UK's creative economy. We expect to see this progress continue."

Ends.

Notes to editors

Scope of the second WoCC review

The Trust is required examine the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's compliance with clauses 54 – 56 of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Agreement every two years, considering whether any aspect of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's arrangements for complying with them ought to be modified. Amongst other things, the Trust is required to look at:

a) whether an appropriately wide range and diversity of programmes has been made through the WoCC; and

b) whether the geographical location and size of external producers who made bids to make programmes through the WoCC suggests that the process of competition has been fair and transparent.

This is the second review of the WoCC. The first was a necessarily detailed investigation into the newly embedded systems and processes behind the WoCC. This second review has focused on the progress made on the Trust's recommendations from the first review. The review has broadly assessed;

• how the outcomes of the WoCC compare to the findings in the last review
• whether the recommendations from 2008 have been implemented; and,
• whether there are any new areas to consider.

More specifically, it has focused on the following areas:

• How do the current arrangements fit with broader ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Strategy?
• How are the arrangements working in practice?
• What outcomes have the arrangements led to in terms of content commissioned in-house versus externally?
• What effect do the arrangements have on value for money for licence fee payers?
• What effect do the arrangements have on quality of programmes and content for licence fee payers?

Links

Trust's second biennial review of the WoCC

Trust's first biennial review of the WoCC