The BBC has set up an in-house Corporate Social Responsibility Centre to deliver its CSR programme over the next few years.
Headed by Michael Hastings, former head of political and parliamentary affairs, the three-person unit will be responsible for implementing policies developed by a recently formed ‘CSR board’ of a dozen senior executives.
The board, chaired by BBC director general Greg Dyke, will meet for the first time this summer and thereafter at least twice a year. Dyke has been a keen supporter of CSR since his appointment in 2000.
The BBC is also establishing small departmental teams to work on specific issues. The first team set up was responsible for gathering information for the BBC’s submission to Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index (see page three). The index placed the corporation in the fourth of five divisions among Bitc member companies in terms of its CSR management processes and performance.
The corporation will also host ‘CSR lunches’ chaired by its chairman Gavin Davies, at which ‘high level internal and external stakeholders’ will offer ideas on how the corporation should progress.
The centre’s initial task will be to compile data for the BBC’s first CSR report, to be published next year.
The corporation aims to strengthen its community affairs work, which it regards as an important part of its CSR business. A quarter of the BBC’s 25,000 employees already do voluntary work in corporation time and seven per cent of the staff have joined a payroll-giving initiative begun in December.
The BBC has also joined the London Benchmarking Group, which helps organizations to measure more accurately the cash value of their community involvement.
The corporation has said it wants to become one of the leading ‘non plc’ performers on CSR over the next few years (EP3, issue 10). It believes an improved record in this area will help when its charter comes up for renewal with the UK government in 2006.