BBC head to address businesses during Chamber event

Senior BBC boss, Stuart Thomas, will be discussing the broadcaster 's ambitious transformation and investment in the West Midlands, during an upcoming Chamber webinar.

Mr Thomas (pictured), head of Midlands for BBC England, will address businesses during a virtual event being hosted by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce on 26 May from 11am. It is free for members and non-members of the Chambers to attend.

The event follows the broadcaster 's announcement in March that it would be relocating its Newsbeat and Asian Network teams to Birmingham, as well as partly relocating the BBC 's News Data team, launch a new radio service for Wolverhampton and pilot an apprentice training agency in the West Midlands.

As part of its plans, over the next six years the broadcaster will shift its creative and journalistic centre away from London.

By 2027/28 the BBC will be spending at the very least, an extra £700million across the UK.

Mr Thomas will be discussing what these plans mean for the West Midlands with businesses during the event.

Before his role as head of Midlands, Mr Thomas was head of Regional and Local Programmes in the East Midlands.

He headed up regional output across TV, radio and online from the East Midlands region, including 'BBC East Midlands Today ', 'Inside Out ', 'Sunday Politics ' and three BBC local radio stations.

Mr Thomas joined the BBC in 2009 from ITV, where he was responsible for their flagship regional news programme, 'London Tonight ', and part of the team that produced ITV News.

To find out more or book your place, click here