The Compliance Process and Role of Commissioning

Although the Channel's approach will always be one of collaboration, the cardinal principle is that programme lawyers and compliance advisers advise and editors decide. In other words, working closely with programme-makers, commissioning editors, commissioning heads, the Director of Programmes and ultimately the Chief Executive, through a process of 'referral-up', are responsible for the editorial content of programmes. Crucially, this includes making sure that all programmes have been subject to the appropriate level of editorial scrutiny at every stage to ensure compliance with the Ofcom Code. This includes reviewing programmes commissioned or acquired by commissioning editors' predecessors and all repeats on all platforms.

Editorial staff are also responsible for ensuring that, before and after broadcast, any matters giving rise to legal or compliance issues are referred to the legal & compliance department for timely advice. Each week, there is a nominated editorial executive on duty out of office hours. Details of who that person is (together with contact details) are circulated by the Facilities Management Helpdesk in the weekly Duty Rota at the end of each week.