Equity has welcomed key Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee recommendations on BBC Charter renewal — including ending political appointments and a permanent Charter — while warning the report underplays the BBC's cultural and entertainment output.
The Committee's report comes amid the ongoing BBC Charter Review. Equity said it was pleased the report recognises the benefits the BBC brings to national life, including support for the creative economy, talent creation, social cohesion and trusted information that underpins democracy. The union agrees the BBC must not be left to a managed decline. The Committee also took up Equity's call to end political appointments to the BBC board.
Fleming: reforms should go further
Paul W Fleming, Equity general secretary, said several of the union's proposals had been taken up — ending political appointments on the Board, a permanent Charter, and public service algorithms — and that these could help the BBC thrive.
"We would like to see these proposed reforms extending further to a re-founding of the BBC as an arm of the welfare state, in which arts and culture are enshrined as an essential public service — alongside health, education, housing and social security.
"Too narrow a focus on the BBC's news output, despite news and current affairs only making up about 10% of the BBC's content spend, means we do not hear enough about the corporation's cultural achievements. One of the BBC's five public purposes is to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world, and one of its three overarching missions is to entertain.
"The Committee should also have scrutinised the strain placed on the Licence Fee by the BBC's de facto internal market, and current charter requirements to outsource a certain percentage of content. Licence Fee payers should not be subsidising profit for commercial independent producers when it makes no economic or creative sense to do so. As part of a commitment to the 'biggest wave of insourcing in a generation', the new charter should free the BBC to produce and own its content as it sees fit."
The current Royal Charter runs until 31 December 2027. The government is expected to publish a White Paper on the BBC in late 2026 or early 2027, following the Green Paper of 16 December 2025.
