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Roles and responsibilities
- David led more than 3,000 staff in local programme and news teams across England.
- He was responsible for editorial leadership and overall management of 12 television regions, 39 local radio stations and a comprehensive online service.
- 45.5% of the adult population watch BBC regional news in England during an average week, with Inside Out averaging an audience of 2.7 million. BBC local radio is listened to by 6.4 million people a week.
Biography
Last updated January 2018
David is responsible for the BBC's local output and newsgathering across England. BBC English Regions is part of the BBC's News division and consists of 3,000 staff based from the Channel Islands in the south to the Scottish borders in the north.
David oversees daily regional TV news programmes in 12 regions, weekly current affairs and the Sunday Politics shows in 11 of them, 39 local radio stations and a news online service to 42 areas. Under David’s leadership the regional half-hour TV news programmes on BBC One at 6.30pm has been the most watched news output in the country, with an average audience of 5.2 million adults; four million adults watching the bulletin at 10.25pm.
David is leading the partnership work between the BBC and the local and regional news industry. This commitment will see the BBC working with local news providers to improve coverage of local institutions and organisations through the Local Democracy Reporters scheme. The partnership also involves a shared data journalism unit, run out of the BBC’s base in Birmingham. The BBC is also making much of its regional and local news available for external partners to use online.
David has also implemented the BBC’s Women in Radio initiative which aims help boost the number of women presenting on BBC Radio by 2015. He has put into action the BBC’s Local Radio Apprenticeships scheme, run by the BBC Academy, to offer non-graduates a route into the broadcasting industry through placements at every station across England and the Channel Islands.
Under his tenure, David has also overseen the start of a transition of BBC Local Radio’s switch to a virtualised equipment and infrastructure entitled The Virtual Local Radio (ViLoR) project, which has been developed by BBC Technology in collaboration with BBC Local Radio.
David joined the BBC in 1985 and was in the launch team for two new BBC local radio stations, in Shropshire and Hereford & Worcester.
He worked in regional television first as a producer in Birmingham and then the Editor of News and Current Affairs in the East of England, before becoming Head of Region for the North West in 1997. He subsequently ran the East and then the West Midlands regions before being appointed Controller of English Regions in December 2008.
Born in Bradford, David's early career was in local newspapers and commercial radio where he was a reporter and news editor.
David is a member of the RAJAR Board (Radio Joint Audience Research).
Annual remuneration on leaving BBC
- £155,000-£159,999
Expenses and central bookings
Expenses are costs incurred by BBC staff on behalf of the BBC and claimed through the BBC's expenses system.
Central bookings are costs incurred on behalf of the BBC and booked through the BBC's central bookings system. Both expenses and central bookings are published every three months.
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Gifts and Hospitality Register
Gifts and hospitality may only be accepted in line with BBC policy. Information about gifts and hospitality is published every three months.
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- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2018-19
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2017-18
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2017-18
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2017-18
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2017-18
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2016-17
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2016-17
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2016-17
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2016-17
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2015-16
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2015-16
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2015-16
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2015-16
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2014-15
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2014-15
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2014-15
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2014-15
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2013-14
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2013-14
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2013-14
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2013-14
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2012-13
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2012-13
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2012-13
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2012-13
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2011-12
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2011-12
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2011-12
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2011-12
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2010-11
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2010-11
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2010-11
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2010-11
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2009-10
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2009-10
- David Holdsworth had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2009-10
- David Holdsworth's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q1 2009-10
Declaration of personal interests
Staff must make a declaration of their personal and business interests, including any memberships or directorships of public or industry bodies, and any shareholdings, as well as any interests that their immediate families may also have.
A summary is published where there is something to declare and where there is nothing to declare. Occasionally an individual will have something to declare but due to the personal nature of the declaration we do not publish details as to do so would breach the General Data Protection Regulation.
This information is published annually, although if any amendments are made during the year an updated summary will be published if necessary as soon as it is available.
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