BBC appoints director of governance

Friday, 3 September 2004 12:00 AM

The BBC's Governors have unveiled the leader of a new department that they created to "show their independence" from corporation management in the latest episode of post-Hutton restructuring.

Senior civil servant Nicholas Kroll will head up the new Governance Unit, which will help the Governors to implement the pledge they made in June, when they vowed to become completely independent of BBC management.

Announcing the appointment, BBC Chairman Michael Grade said Mr Kroll, who joins the corporation from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, had been a unanimous choice.

"The appointment of Nicholas Kroll to this important role marks another step forward in implementing the changes to our governance system announced in Building Public Value," he said.

"His intellectual rigour, broadcasting and wider public policy experience, and proven independence and objectivity will prove invaluable in setting up and directing the new governance unit."

Mr Grade said the new Governance Unit would have a range of expert and independent professionals to advise Governors on the conduct of their duties and to scrutinise proposals coming from management.

Mr Kroll voiced his support for the BBC's corporate structure, saying: "I strongly believe that the BBC's system of governance is the right system for maintaining a BBC that operates in the public interest and is independent from political and commercial pressures.

"The changes announced by the Board in June to modernise the way in which the Governors execute their responsibilities will ensure the British public continues to receive and enjoy the BBC it wants and deserves."

Mr Kroll, currently chief operating officer at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, will take up his appointment on October 1.

He has worked for the Government since 1977. At the DCMS he held roles in broadcasting and the arts; before that, he had been at the Treasury, where he was head of the European Community budget division, and at the Department of Transport.

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