§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on(a) the total cost of, (b) the cost to his Department of and (c) the revenue to be raised by the proposed new television channel for teachers.[141733]
192W
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 3 December 20031The Department has signed a contract for the supply of Teachers' TV with Education Digital, a consortium of Carlton Communications, Brook Lapping Productions Ltd. and the Institute of Education of the University of London. The contract is to provide
(a) a comprehensive pilot for the Teachers' TV proposition, and
(b) if the pilot demonstrates the channel will be effective and provide value for money, to supply the channel up to August 2007 (with the possibility to extend to August 2008)
The costs to the Department of piloting the channel are currently estimated to be £1.5 million. This figure comprises the costs of independent research into the effectiveness of the channel proposition as well as content production and distribution costs.
The full channel, if launched, will need to demonstrate value for money compared to other expenditure to reach the same objectives. The pilot will help us determine the right level of programming and therefore overall costs. Further information on the cost of the full channel will be available after the pilot.
The Department is currently proposing to underwrite the full costs of the channel through savings in other central expenditure. However, we will continue to look for ways to mitigate these through sponsorship, commercial airtime and programme sales. We have investigated the commercial value of Teachers' TV airtime, but concluded that, initially, the potential revenue would be unlikely to exceed the cost of sales. We will continue to investigate potential revenue streams that may result from a successful channel and that could be used to off-set total channel running costs.
§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on how the effectiveness of the proposed new television channel for teachers will be measured; and what targets will be set. [141734]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 3 December 2003]We have put in place a comprehensive measurement system to ensure the effectiveness of Teachers' TV. A balanced scorecard of measures will be used to measure performance in four areas:
(a) Audience
Targets for channel reach and loyalty among the target audience will be set following the pilot (so the pilot can be used to establish realistic but stretching targets). Further key performance indicators have been set to measure relevance, applicability in the classroom and ease of use.
(b) Content
Educational outcomes for the channel have been set to ensure programming as a whole is in line with the Department's strategy (e.g. supports raising literacy and numeracy standards). An independent Teachers' TV board will ensure, among other things, programme quality standards are maintained.
(c) Financial
Open book accounting will be used to ensure financial transparency. Cost overruns will be borne entirely by the supplier by the Department. Under-spends on content will be entirely retained by the Department, 193W while any economies which the channel supplier can realise in non-content areas will he shared between Department and supplier.
(d) Functional-technical
Industry best practice is being adopted in requiring the supplier to meet the same obligations placed on public service broadcasters by the Broadcasting Act 1990, such as independent and regional production quotas. This category also covers maintenance of technical standards such as channel downtime.
The supplier will be paid on a cost-plus basis. In addition to costs, the supplier will be rewarded for performance against these key performance indicators. Of the maximum 12.5 per cent. channel management fee, 10 per cent. is performance-related, designed to reward excellence by the channel supplier in meeting channel objectives. An independent governance authority, drawing on the work of an independent research agency where appropriate, will evaluate supplier performance.