October 2001 reintegration

Proposals have been made to reintegrate Production Services England (PSE) staff.

At a meeting in Pebble Mill on 18 January 2001, Controller of English Regions, Andy Griffee informed union representatives that PSE staff would be transferring into the English Regions.

Most staff affected will transfer six months into the next financial year.

More details are given in two letters from management detailed below.

Letter from Controller English Regions

18th January 2001

Dear Colleague,

As you will see in today’s letter from Margaret Salmon (attached), we are now in a position to take forward the integration of Production Services England into English Regions. This completes the job started last October when Local Radio Engineers were moved into ER and responds to the desire of many staff to return to working as part of one integrated team.

In order to ensure we have enough time to plan and manage through the changes as smoothly as possible, we plan that integration of PSE will take place in two stages:

Stage 1

As from 1st April 2001, Phil Merrell, currently Head of PSE, will report into me and become a permanent member of the English Regions management team. Phil will become head of Operations. Services & Technology (HOST) in England and be responsible for all activities in these areas. As a result of this change, PSE will move out of Resources and become part of ER under Nations & Regions. This will have the effect of creating one integrated organisation where previously there were two.

Stage 2

On 1st October 2001 integration will take place at site level (with the exception of Tunbridge Wells & Marylebone High Street which will have already integrated in April of this year). From this time all Resource Operations Managers (ROMs) will report into Head of Regional and Local Programmes (HRLPs) and formally join the Regional managerial team. This will mean that, through the ROMs, site level operations will become the responsibility of the HRLP.

Other changes

In deciding to move forward the integration of PSE, we have also had to consider Resources as a whole across England. As a result, the following will also form part of ER on 1st April:

  • those Property and Facilities Management Services in England currently under Resources Ltd.
  • the operational fleet management of our vehicles currently provided by Resources Ltd.
As previously announced, four BBC shops (Camberly, Horsham, Epsom and Eastbourne) will move from Retail into ER on 1 April.

Libraries

All News Libraries in England will integrate into ER on 1st October with the exception of those in Manchester and Birmingham. Responsibility for Library Research Centres at the three Network Production Centres in England vital transfer to Information & Archives from 1st April. I&A, which is part of the Finance Property and Business Affairs petal will provide News Library services to ER in Manchester and Birmingham via an SLA for the foreseeable future.

I am delighted that we can now move ahead with this significant new partnership in line with Greg’s One BBC strategy. We must continue to cherish and develop the craft skills that deliver the highest quality programmes but we must also grasp the opportunities which new technology makes possible. Our new single organisation will allow us to manage these opportunities in the best interests of everyone. moving away from occasionally adversarial trading relationships to collaborative team working.

There is further work to be done on the structures and processes at HQ and site level to ensure that they best reflect the needs of an integrated England and this will be the subject or further communication over the coming weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime please speak to your ROM or HRLP.

Yours faithfully,

ANDY GRIFFEE

Controller, English Regions

Letter from The Chief Executive Resources

Changes to Resources in England

11th January 2001

Dear Colleague

Following the review of Resources conducted by Greg in July 2000, we have announced a series of organisational changes designed to improve the performance of Resources Ltd and respond to the new ‘One BBC’ structure implemented last year.

  • BBC MediaArc is now the home of all interactive and design work and includes designers based in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol and London.
  • Post Production in Bristol, Birmingham and London has become one business.
  • The Outside Broadcast business in Scotland, Wales and London is now managed as one operation.
  • A joint venture with Granada Media in Manchester, 3sixtymedia, has been agreed.
  • The television studios at Pebble Mill are to be closed.
  • Resources at the Open University in Milton Keynes are to be transferred into Production creating a smaller, more integrated production base supporting the Open University.
  • News Resources were integrated within the News division last October and Resources in the Nations will be integrated in April 2001.
  • The service businesses in Production Services; Property, Facilities Management, Information & Archives and Employee Services, transferred into the new professional services divisions in October.
Since last September an England Board, chaired by Andy Griffee, has been looking at what should happen to the remaining parts of Resources in England not affected by these changes.

This work has highlighted the advantages to be gained by integrating Resources operations with the English Region as well as the need to continue the work of pulling together professional services across the BBC when it makes sense to do so. Consequently we propose to make a number of changes in England on the 1st April 2001.

  • Local news resource operations will transfer to the English Region.
  • All facilities management, transport and retail services in England will also transfer to the English Regions.
  • The Research Centres and News Libraries in Birmingham and Manchester and the Research Centre in Bristol will transfer to Information & Archives in the Finance, Property and Business Affairs Division.
  • All radio studio assets and staff will transfer to Radio Production Resources and remain part of our Production Services Division.
  • All technical support and communications staff in England will remain in Resources Ltd and be managed as one unit.

For some of you this will mean transferring out of a limited company back into the BBC, for others it will be a matter of moving from one BBC division to another. Everyone will have a face to face meeting with their manager over the next few weeks. In the meantime you will find attached to this letter a table which gives the detail of where particular groups of staff transfer. Discussions will also take place with the Trade Unions shortly.

The changes we propose not only bring Resources closer to our major customers in England and reduce overheads but also complete the reorganisation of our resource base in the Nations and Regions. Clearly there is a lot of work to do to ensure a smooth transition and close the financial year successfully but we are confident that this can be done during the next three months with your help.

Please email me direct on Margaret Salmon Talkback with any concerns or questions you may have.

Yours sincerely

MARGARET SALMON

20 January 2001