BBC Trust

The Trust's mission is to get the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers. Each of the Unit's five teams supports this in a different way.

Direction team

Director: Alex Towers

The Director and his team are responsible for supporting the Chairman and Director in their roles, managing their diaries and ensuring they have appropriate briefing and advice. They also are responsible for the general management of the Trust Unit, including accommodation, induction, IT, training and business continuity. Read more about Alex Towers.

Strategy team

The Strategy team has a wide-ranging remit, including public policy negotiations with the Government and industry, analysing and reviewing BBC services and strategic challenges, and communicating the BBC's performance analysis. They test all BBC proposals for new/changed services, identify market impact and investigate all fair trading and compliance issues.

Governance team

The Governance team provides professional support and policy advice to the BBC Trust and carry out the business management and secretariat function for the board. The team ensures that the Trustees are fully supported to undertake their role. The Governance team is also responsible for the Trust's audience and stakeholder engagement work around the United Kingdom, including supporting the Trust's audience advisory bodies in each of the Nations of the UK: the Audience Councils. The Governance team ensures that the Trust meets its duty to operate with high standards of openness and transparency.

Editorial team

Head of Editorial Standards: Fran O'Brien

The Editorial team has four main functions. The first is to ensure that the BBC handles complaints appropriately. This includes acting as the secretariat to the Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) and Complaints and Appeal Board (CAB), which are the third and final stages in the BBC’s complaints handling process. The second function is to support and advise Trustees in their oversight of the BBC’s Editorial Standards which are set out in the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. Thirdly the team project manages impartiality reviews, seminars and other editorial projects commissioned by the BBC Trust. Finally the team manages all correspondence coming into the unit including correspondence generated by the Trust website, making sure all correspondence is logged, tracked and actioned properly.

Communications team

Head of Communications: Katherine MacLeod 

The Communications team works to develop and safeguard the reputation of the Trust, and ensure that the Trust’s role is understood and accurately reflected in the media and among third parties e.g. Parliamentarians and external stakeholders. The team manages and advises on appropriate and effective handling of all external and internal communications, advises the Chairman and Trustees on communications handling, including inputting into Trust and Committee papers, and deals with all enquiries from journalists.