Working with you to build skills and develop talent
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There are three reasons for companies being exempt from the requirements set out in Section 337 (6)-(12) of the Communications Act. These are:
Yes, you need to complete a one page exemption form. However, if you are exempt but would still like to share information regarding training provision with us, we would be delighted to receive a self-evaluation form from you. Both the self-evaluation form and the exemption form must be approved by the head of your company. top
We do not want a print version of the form, as we are conscious of the environmental impact of the excessive use of paper. top
You can keep account of how many/how/when but you should also include statements from those trained wherever possible. Alternatively you could show copies of programmes used for on-job training and the Validators could speak to one or two participants. top
Yes, this will impact on programme quality as much as craft training. top
We need the minimum required to justify your self-evaluation. This means pointing towards a document, the minutes of a meeting or even an email exchange. If for example you indicate that you have a training plan, you must indicate the plan itself rather than a group of emails talking about the plan and the Validators will want sight of the Plan. If in doubt ask us at: info@btsr.org.uk. top
Yes this is desirable, particularly when the actual physical evidence is sparse. Narrative can help clarify why you have produced certain forms of evidence. top
Strictly speaking it is off the job training. top
We want to know what impact the investment in training and development has had on quality of programmes and user experience generally. top
If there is genuinely no cross-company policy or average, it may be more helpful and easier for you to submit more than one evaluation form. However, the more likely outcome will be to add some notes to your form indicating where policies apply and highlighting the best practice and what the group aspires to achieve across all member companies. top
Clearly it is impractical to include everything. We need an indication of what is happening and enough evidence to draw a conclusion. If you have a validation visit you can gather additional evidence to show the Validators. top
As of 2009, the validation exercise will be conducted by a team of experienced, independent consultants, but this will be in partnership with BTSR and have the active involvement of the BTSR Board. top
Yes, that is guaranteed by our policies and procedures. If we wanted to highlight something you had achieved we would always ask your permission first. top
Yes we want to encourage the sharing of good practice and experience in the industry and with permission from you we will be looking for opportunities to promote those where we see evidence of innovation in training and development. We will also track the data year on year for evidence of trends. top
They are indeed! Currently under the Communications Act Ofcom has a responsibility to review the training output of licencees only. For those who don't fall within the remit, we would nevertheless be delighted to receive a completed form! top
BTSR wants to work in partnership with the Broadcasters to improve the quality of training and development in the industry. Each validation visit will be accompanied by a report of the visit and everyone will receive a copy of the final report in early summer. Ultimately BTSR can ask Ofcom to fine Broadcasters or revoke their licence, if they refuse to participate in the co-regulatory system. top
We are funded through a levy on broadcasters, who are assessed by Ofcom and levied according to their size. Given that we are financed by the industry, we want to ensure that you gain real value from our work. So if you would like to find out more about us or have any comments, points or suggestions that will help make the BTSR more effective, we’d like to hear from you. top
For several years Ofcom managed the process of receiving Equal Opportunity reports from individual broadcasters and provided the industry with an annual report. However, it became clear that limited progress was being achieved by broadcasters. Ofcom was not in the position to challenge or provide a level of support to improve matters. Ofcom consulted with the industry over a period of almost two years to consider alternative methods by which the EO requirements under the 2003 Act could be met. The consensus was that a co-regulatory model was the best solution. For more details of the consultation process and proposal for co-regulation of equal opportunities, please visit the Ofcom website. top
At the end of the consultation process Ofcom invited the BTSR to be the co-regulator. The BTSR was chosen to manage this work because we are seen as independent of Ofcom and able to work in close partnership with the broadcasters who are required to report. top
Although the BTSR picked up this role as of April 2009, owing to the planning process that needs to engage with all stakeholders, a full co-regulatory model is unlikely to start before 2010. The BTSR is making good progress in formulating a qualitative model similar to that of the Training & Skills framework and thus far this has been received with a great deal of support from the industry representatives on the Planning Group. This will be piloted more widely once broad approval has been reached and a version of the framework similar in model to that constructed for Training & Skills will be tested with a range of representative companies from the smallest to the largest within all sectors. However it is anticipated that a full co-regulatory model will start at the latest in January 2011, with a view that it will be run in the first instance until 2013 when a full review of the co-regulatory approach to EO will take place as to its effectiveness, challenge to broadcasters and its ability to improve performance. top
The exemption criteria are the same as those for Training & Skills and we are endeavouring to change the timeframe for exemption companies by making that request earlier in the annual cycle for 2009 probably during November. top
This will all be online and we hope that all exempt broadcasters will engage in this process. It will take just a few minutes of your time. Otherwise the BTSR will be obliged to conduct a review visit of companies that have not filled in the exemption form to validate their exemption. This will take longer than completing the on-line form. top
In the future broadcasters will be expected to file their reports online and will have access to their own data and information as required. We hope this will also help them look back on the history and review their own progress and improvement in the area of equality of opportunity. top
There is a fundamental difference between the model for Training & Skills and that for Equal Opportunities. The first is that there are three major components to the process under the heading of Motivate, Act and Evaluate and under each one of those components we have three sub-elements making nine strands of activity. By comparison the Training and Skills model has no higher framework but has seven strands to report against.
The other aspect that is different is that companies can report different progress in their approach to equality opportunity in terms of gender, race and disability and all of this will be captured in the new framework. top
We will be creating an online support tool and animated sequence to help people complete the form. We hope, given the experience of the intuitive nature of the Training & Skills model, that this should be fairly straightforward to fill in but as ever should anybody struggle with filling in the form you can always view our powerpoint presentation or contact the BTSR at info@btsr.org.uk.
Should a ground swell of issues emerge we will hope to respond swiftly and arrange online workshops or indeed visits from members of the team to companies experiencing problems in completing the form. We are taking the view that the online guidebook coupled with the experiences we have had in creating the online tool for Training & Skills should make the completion of the Equal Opportunities self evaluation report a fairly straightforward task and intuitive for most of our users. However, issues will emerge and we are always looking to improve what we do and welcome comments. top
It is envisaged that after the first full round which should start in 2011 that a programme of validation will be put in place in partnership and agreement with the Industry Planning Group. These, as with the Training & Skills have two aspects to them. One is to ensure that the reporting by the broadcaster reflects the actual activity on the ground. It will also helps us in the BTSR to review our language, script, framework and to smooth out any misunderstanding there may be in the form as well as in the spirit of what we are all trying to achieve. It will also be an opportunity to receive comments and critiques from broadcasters as to how effective the model is for them. The second aspect of the visit is to seek out good practice case studies and to be able to share this with colleagues with the permission of the individual company. We intend to build a portfolio of case studies in the same way as we have successfully so done on Training & Skills. top
This whole process is a partnership and one that will be a learning process for us in the BTSR and our industry partners. We are supported by an advisory panel of experts on the matter of race, gender and disability. Our ambition is a simple one - to hold a collective approach in the industry and to improve the reporting and capturing of the data, and an overall improvement in the equality of opportunity for all who work in and serve our industry. Our annual report will report on how effective this has been. top