§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell)My Department has today written to the BBC to confirm a timetable for the independent review of BBC Online. The BBC is preparing a full statement about the Online approval and its own detailed assessment of performance against this. The report will be submitted to the Department by the end of June 2003, and will then be available to the independent reviewer, or reviewers, whom I expect to have appointed by that time.
I will set detailed terms of reference for the independent review, which will include a public consultation, once the appointment of a reviewer has been made. These will, however, include a review of the service against the approval given and, to contribute to the coming process of BBC Charter review, an assessment of market impact together with an analysis of the role of BBC Online as part of the BBC's overall service.