 BBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. Producing 120 hours of output daily, the organisation is the largest broadcasting news gatherer in the world while carrying out the key objective of the BBC's Royal Charter to "collect news and information in any part of the world and in any manner that may be thought fit". The Director of BBC News is currently Helen Boaden; she reports to Mark Byford, Deputy Director General and Head of the BBC Journalism group. The department is based at the News Centre within BBC Television Centre in West London, W12, and operates regional centres across the United Kingdom together with 44 news-gathering bureaux based around the world; only three are based within the UK. Political coverage is based at the Millbank Studios in 4 Millbank in Westminster. With an annual budget of £350 million, BBC News consists of 3,500 staff, 2,000 of whom are journalists. Competition within the UK comes mainly from rolling news channel Sky News, but also from ITN, a major independent provider of news services to commercial networks. Around the world the BBC competes with other news providers country-by-country. | 
