BBC North Freedom of Information Act

8/3/2019 BBC North Freedom of Information Act

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SarahHartley

Via email - [email protected]

11 January 2012

Dear Ms Hartley,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 RFI20111502Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act (the Act) of 05 December

2011.

BBC North's objective is to serve and represent audiences across the whole of the UK. It willdeliver locally produced, high quality content for every platform using the latest innovations intechnology. BBC North will also lead the way in training and developing local talent, building onthe rich mix of skills and experience already available in the North of England. It will also forge

new partnerships with organisations across the North of England to bring the BBC closer to thepublic.

BBC North has been operational since May 2011 and started broadcasting live from the site in

September of this year. It is the BBCs new base in the North of England and is the home of BBC

Childrens, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sport as well as individual departments which were based at

BBC Manchester where programmes such as Dragons Den, Question of Sport, Mastermind and

the BBCs regional North West news and current affairs output was produced. In April 2012, the

first phase of migration will be complete with the arrival of Breakfast News, the first network

news programme to be broadcast outside London. The BBC recently announced that an additional1,000 posts will move to MediaCityUK by the end of the current charter period, bringing the total

number of staff based on-site to 3,300. BBC North will ultimately be responsible for thousands of

hours of content for TV, radio and online and has already established a strong track record for

investing in network programmes including Eric & Ernie, South Riding and United; digital content

for BBC Childrens through @North; Kicker Fund investment for Radio 5 live and BBC Sport and

live events such as the award-winning Frankensteins Wedding...Live In Leeds.

Of the BBC North workforce based at MediaCityUK, made up of BBC staff and new recruits,

approximately half were originally locally based (i.e. either working for the BBC in Manchester and

or/living within reasonable travelling distance of MediaCityUK already), and half chose to move to


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the North either when their BBC jobs were relocated to Salford or as a result of applying for

Salford-based jobs.

Of the BBC North workforce now based at MediaCityUK, made up of BBC staff and new recruits,approximately half were originally locally based (i.e. either working for the BBC in Manchester and

or/living within reasonable travelling distance of MediaCityUK already), and half chose to move tothe North either when their BBC jobs were relocated to Salford or as a result of applying forSalford-based jobs.

Additionally, there are Salford and Manchester-based people working at MediaCityUK for BBCNorths contractors and partners. BBC North also works with colleges and universities on trainingand developing a workforce for the future.

You asked for information about the BBC North Recruitment Database the jobs bank. Thedata we have for applicants relates to people who applied speculatively to the jobs bank.

I will deal with each of your points in the order that you have raised them:

Q1. How many jobseekers registered with the jobsbank?

66,657 people registered speculatively with the jobs bank

Q2. How many of those were accepted into the talent pool i.e. how many passed the online

testing?

The online assessments were designed to filter in to the talent pool c.75-80% of all applicants that

best matched the BBCs Values and working culture of BBC North. In line with best practice, a

cut-off score was set, above which candidates would progress into the talent pool. Of those

applicants that completed the online assessment 77% (38,876. people) exceeded the cut off score

and progressed into the talent pool.

Q3. How many vacancies were advertised via the jobsbank?

The jobsbank was set up to create a pool of skilled applicants from which vacancies for jobs in

BBC North could be filled. The objective was to make it easier and quicker for applicants so thatthey would only need to apply once for the majority of opportunities at BBC North. After making

this speculative application their details would be reviewed to see whether they were a suitable

match for specific vacancies.

As of 12 December, 238 vacancies were sourced purely from the speculative applicants within the

jobs bank.

Q4. What were the postcodes of the applicants? Please could you detail how many for each area.

Table1 is a table of applications by postal district for those who applied speculatively to the jobs bank.


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Table1

Location Applications

Manchester PD 15,238

Greater Manchester 7,785

Lancashire 4,549

Cheshire 4,398

Liverpool PD 2,400

South West London 2,097

West Yorkshire 1,699

Staffordshire 1,602

Leeds PD 1,483

West London 1,384

North London 1,353

East London 1,282

South East London 1,254

North West London 1,168

Sheffield PD 1,052

North Yorkshire 922

Birmingham PD 916

East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire 914

Cumbria 763

Glasgow PD 748

Newcastle PD 718

North Wales 665

Tees & Wear 629

West Midlands 553

Northern Ireland 548

Nottingham PD 516

Chilterns 508

Cambridge and Peterborough 469

Edinburgh PD 466

Hertfordshire 450

Leicester PD 427

Cardiff PD 421

Surrey & Sussex 418

Coventry PD 410

Bristol PD 402

Bedfordshire & Northamptonshire 387

Derby PD 374

Hereford, Gloucester & Worcester 361

Oxford PD 340

South Kent 321

Grampian & Fife 317


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North East London 309

Essex 299

Reading PD 289

South London 289

Brighton PD 259North Kent 256

Wiltshire 252

Suffolk 246

South West England 237

South Wales 210

Norwich PD 205

Wessex 189

Southampton PD 181

Central Scotland 177West England 174

Scottish Highlands 169

Portsmouth PD 154

Lowland Scotland 55

Total 66,657

Q5. What were the salary bands of the advertised jobs?

Table 2 shows the salary bands of the vacancies sourced solely via the jobs bank.

Table 2

Grade Number Min Max

11 4 43,453 68,784

10 14 38,867 61,508

9 23 34,776 55,010

8 42 30,686 48,549

7 55 26,591 42,637

6 10 19,878 42,637

5/7- 4 23,664 37,438

5 38 20,773 32,825

4 23 18,390 28,772

2&3 23 14,461 25,230

Total 238*


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*These vacancies resulted in the appointment of 529 posts. N.B. There are more posts appointed than

vacancies because an individual vacancy can be created to fill multiple roles eg: one generic Broadcast

Journalist vacancy could be created to fill six roles

Q6. Please could you detail how many vacancies there were for each band.

Individual jobs have different salaries and we are unable to provide data for each individual role. However,

each job at the BBC is given a grade and we have outlined in Table 2 the number of vacancies by grade and

given the salary ranges for these vacancies.

Q7. How many posts were filled via the jobsbank?

As of 12 Dec, 529 posts were filled from applicants within the jobsbank.

Q8. What were the postcodes of the successful applicants? Please could you detail how many for each area.

The postcode data in Table 3 for posts filled relates to two categories of people: those who weresuccessfully appointed following speculative application through the jobs bank plus those who weresuccessfully appointed through application to externally advertised specific roles.

Table 3

Location Hires

West London 61

South West London 58

Chilterns 14

Southampton PD 4

South London 6

Essex 6

North East London 6

North West London 22

East London 23

Hertfordshire 8

Surrey & Sussex 7

Bedfordshire & Northamptonshire 5

South East London 16

North London 17

Suffolk 3

Cumbria 9

Wessex 2

Greater Manchester 79

Manchester PD 154

Staffordshire 14

Birmingham PD 8


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Sheffield PD 9

Hereford, Gloucester & Worcester 3

Leeds PD 12

Cheshire 35

North Kent 2Liverpool PD 18

Coventry PD 3

West Midlands 4

West Yorkshire 12

Edinburgh PD 3

Cambridge and Peterborough 3

South Kent 2

Oxford PD 2

West England 1Central Scotland 1

Derby PD 2

Bristol PD 2

Lancashire 22

Cardiff PD 2

East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire 4

South West England 1

Newcastle PD 3

Glasgow PD 3Brighton PD 1

Reading PD 1

Tees & Wear 2

Leicester PD 1

Nottingham PD 1

Northern Ireland 1

North Wales 1

North Yorkshire 1

Total 680

Q9. What were the salary bands of the vacancies filled? Please could you detail how many of each were

successfully filled.

Table 4 below outlines the number and salary ranges for the vacancies in Table 3 both those filled via the

jobs bank i.e. 529 roles PLUS 161 roles from individually advertised roles.

Table 4

Grade Number Min Max

11 23 43,453 68,784


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10 35 38,867 61,508

9 77 34,776 55,010

8 102 30,686 48,549

7 189 26,951 42,637

6 32 19,878 42,6375/7- 25 23,664 37,438

5 110 20,733 32,825

4 49 18,390 28,772

3 34 16,147 25,230

2 14 14,461 22,197

trainee 6 13975 14495

Total 690**

This figure** includes 10 people who were initially hired who for various reasons did not end up starting inpost.

Appeal Rights

If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior

manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address above, explaining what you would like us

to review and including your reference number.

If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,

Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Yours sincerely,

Ken Lee, HR Director BBC North


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BBC North Freedom of Information Act

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