Complaints about BBC accuracy and impartiality should be appealable to Ofcom, say Lords

In a report the Lords' Select Committee on Communications said that the BBC and Ofcom should draw up a new agreement that would make the BBC responsible for hearing all initial complaints. If a viewer is dissatisfied with the BBC's internal findings they should be able to ask Ofcom to investigate it, the report said.

Currently complaints about the BBC's accuracy or impartiality can only be heard by the BBC Trust.

"We believe that the BBC and Ofcom should consider drawing up a new Memorandum of Understanding on complaints which requires that all complaints about BBC programmes and services first be considered by the BBC using an improved version of the existing internal process," a report (69-page / 2.49MB PDF) on the governance and regulation of the BBC by the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications said.

"If complainants are not content with the outcome of that process they should have the right of appeal to the BBC Trust. Only if the complainants are not satisfied with the outcome of this appeal should a complaint about BBC broadcast content be considered by Ofcom," the report said.

Currently different complaints procedures apply depending on the nature of viewers' concerns about BBC content.

The BBC Trust, which was set up in 2007 as an internal BBC body to review how the organisation manages itself,  has the final say on complaints about the BBC's accuracy and impartiality. Ofcom, the UK's media regulator, is responsible for hearing complaints about programme standards, privacy concerns and other issues.

The shared and differing responsibilities of Ofcom and the BBC Trust make it difficult for viewers to know where complaints should be initially sent, the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications said.

The committee said that the BBC Trust should hand over the responsibilities it currently has for overseeing accuracy and impartiality complaints to Ofcom. It said it would create a fairer system by ensuring viewers' concerns are addressed independently.

"We recommend that the BBC Trust and Ofcom 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 committee's report said.

"The majority of our Committee proposes that Ofcom are given final responsibility for regulating impartiality and accuracy in BBC public service broadcasting content," the report said.

The committee also proposed that the all complaints made to the BBC should go through a single department. BBC Audience Service should deal directly with complaints if possible or refer more complicated or serious matters to relevant departments, the committee's report said.

The BBC's programmes and services are subjected to different standards to commercial broadcasters on the issues of accuracy and impartiality.

Ofcom's broadcasting code sets out what broadcasters can and cannot do when producing content. Some parts of the code govern aspects of the content the BBC produces, whilst commercial broadcasters must abide by the code in its entirety.

BBC staff must follow specific guidelines on accuracy and impartiality. These rules are set out in the BBC Agreement, which the corporation signed jointly with the Government.