SarahHartleyVia email -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxm 11 January 2012Dear Ms Hartley,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – RFI20111502

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act (the Act) of 05 December2011.BBC North's objective is to serve and represent audiences across the whole of the UK. It willdeliver locally produced, high quality content for every platform using the latest innovations intechnology. BBC North will also lead the way in training and developing local talent, building onthe rich mix of skills and experience already available in the North of England. It will also forgenew partnerships with organisations across the North of England to bring the BBC closer to thepublic.BBC North has been operational since May 2011 and started broadcasting live from the site inSeptember of this year. It is the BBC’s new base in the North of England and is the home of BBCChildren’s, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sport as well as individual departments which were based atBBC Manchester where programmes such as Dragon’s Den, Question of Sport, Mastermind andthe BBC’s regional North West news and current affairs output was produced. In April 2012, thefirst phase of migration will be complete with the arrival of Breakfast News, the first network news programme to be broadcast outside London. The BBC recently announced that an additional1,000 posts will move to MediaCityUK by the end of the current charter period, bringing the totalnumber of staff based on-site to 3,300. BBC North will ultimately be responsible for thousands of hours of content for TV, radio and online and has already established a strong track record forinvesting in network programmes including Eric & Ernie, South Riding and United; digital contentfor BBC Children’s through @North; Kicker Fund investment for Radio 5 live and BBC Sport andlive events such as the award-winning Frankenstein’s Wedding...Live In Leeds.Of the BBC North workforce based at MediaCityUK, made up of BBC staff and new recruits,approximately half were originally locally based (i.e. either working for the BBC in Manchester andor/living within reasonable travelling distance of MediaCityUK already), and half chose to move to

the North either when their BBC jobs were relocated to Salford or as a result of applying forSalford-based jobs.Of the BBC North workforce now based at MediaCityUK, made up of BBC staff and new recruits,approximately half were originally locally based (i.e. either working for the BBC in Manchester andor/living within reasonable travelling distance of MediaCityUK already), and half chose to move tothe North either when their BBC jobs were relocated to Salford or as a result of applying forSalford-based jobs.Additionally, there are Salford and Manchester-based people working at MediaCityUK for BBCNorth’s contractors and partners. BBC North also works with colleges and universities on trainingand developing a workforce for the future.You asked for information about the BBC North Recruitment Database – the ‘jobs bank’. Thedata we have for

applicants

relates to people who applied speculatively to the jobs bank.I will deal with each of your points in the order that you have raised them:

Q1. How many jobseekers registered with the jobsbank?

66,657 people registered speculatively with the jobs bank

Q2. How many of those were accepted into the ‘talent pool’ i.e. how many passed the onlinetesting?

The online assessments were designed to filter in to the talent pool c.75-80% of all applicants thatbest matched the BBC’s Values and working culture of BBC North. In line with best practice, acut-off score was set, above which candidates would progress into the talent pool. Of thoseapplicants that completed the online assessment 77% (38,876. people) exceeded the cut off scoreand progressed into the talent pool.

Q3. How many vacancies were advertised via the jobsbank?

The jobsbank was set up to create a pool of skilled applicants from which vacancies for jobs inBBC North could be filled. The objective was to make it easier and quicker for applicants so thatthey would only need to apply once for the majority of opportunities at BBC North. After makingthis speculative application their details would be reviewed to see whether they were a suitablematch for specific vacancies.As of 12 December, 238 vacancies were sourced purely from the speculative applicants within the jobs bank.

Q4. What were the postcodes of the applicants? Please could you detail how many for each area.

Table1 is a table of applications by postal district for those who applied speculatively to the jobs bank.

Table1

Location Applications

Manchester PD 15,238Greater Manchester 7,785Lancashire 4,549Cheshire 4,398Liverpool PD 2,400South West London 2,097West Yorkshire 1,699Staffordshire 1,602Leeds PD 1,483West London 1,384North London 1,353East London 1,282South East London 1,254North West London 1,168Sheffield PD 1,052North Yorkshire 922Birmingham PD 916East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire 914Cumbria 763Glasgow PD 748Newcastle PD 718North Wales 665Tees & Wear 629West Midlands 553Northern Ireland 548Nottingham PD 516Chilterns 508Cambridge and Peterborough 469Edinburgh PD 466Hertfordshire 450Leicester PD 427Cardiff PD 421Surrey & Sussex 418Coventry PD 410Bristol PD 402Bedfordshire & Northamptonshire 387Derby PD 374Hereford, Gloucester & Worcester 361Oxford PD 340South Kent 321Grampian & Fife 317