Chair of the commission, Geraldine Peacock, joined a panel of BBC department heads to talk about how the media could be used to engage with society and to encourage people to become better citizens.

"The BBC has to demonstrate that it has social value, and the commission has to find more ways of adding benefit to its role as the charity sector’s regulator so we share a lot of common ground when it comes to educating people,” said Peacock. “The conference allowed us to look at how the broadcast media could be better utilised. What we got were lots of ideas about how to use local media more effectively - not just traditional forms such as radio and television, but also digital technologies - and in ways that improved communications between local communities, small, isolated charities and the man on the street.”

Examples of some of the ideas given include a local radio station handing over a week’s worth of programming and resources to a minority group to enable them to tell their stories, plus arranging a series of televised debates held around the country to discuss what public benefit and charities mean to wider society – which could then be put to a nationwide vote.

Two pilot programmes have already been commissioned – a “playground to playground” scheme allowing schools to link up with each other, and an intergenerational “digital heirloom” idea – however the BBC is due to report back on all the ideas put forward in a few weeks time.

"They are going to feedback to us once they have assessed the overall input and then we are going to look at ways in which we can take this forward,” said Peacock. “I think they were making positive noises, and some of the BBC representatives had their eyes opened. They seemed willing to take a look but as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”