Dry stone wallers

Edited highlights of a Freedom of Information enquiry to the BBC, and its progress, or otherwise,

Q: In 2013 the BBC undertook an Organisational Health Indication Survey. Please provide a copy of the survey and its outcome.

A: The BBC does not hold the information that you have requested. The BBC has not undertaken this work therefore we cannot provide a report.

Q: Your response comes as a shock. Having spent such a sum of money on commissioning this survey it is certainly a surprise to me that the BBC has not only misplaced it but forgotten that it was ever undertaken.
I therefore request that you refer this to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser as you have offered.

The Organisational Health Indication Survey which the BBC claims it did not undertake and does not hold was an outcome of Dinah Rose QC's report into Respect at Work at the BBC. It was reported that Lord Hall wanted to look at the things the BBC was doing well, and not so well, and commissioned McKinsey & Company to carry out a piece of work on Organisational Health. This was to be a two-month review into making the BBC a "simpler place to work".

A: In the light of the further clarification provided by the applicant and further enquiries I have made with the relevant members of staff, I can confirm that the BBC does hold some information relevant to this request. I have seen nothing to suggest that this information was deliberately overlooked in the BBC’s original handling of the request, but in my view the BBC should have carried out a more adequate search for the requested information in the first instance. I understand that the BBC may need to consider whether any exemptions apply to this information prior to release. However, the applicant should be provided with a more appropriate response without delay.