Post by Teddy Bear on Feb 20, 2012 0:55:28 GMT
The BBC protects the public interest by spending lots of public money to prevent the interest of its public finding out just how much the BBC spends.
BBC pays £1.8million legal bill to help keep stars' pay confidential
The BBC’s governing body has paid £1.8 million to a top international law firm for work including advice on keeping the wages of some of its most high-profile stars confidential.
Figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday show that the BBC Trust – the body that has overall control of the public broadcaster – paid an average of almost £20,000 a week to the London office of Baker & McKenzie during the past two years.
Critics claim the figure represents poor value for money and it has been suggested the National Audit Office (NAO) may investigate the issue.
The payments made to Baker & McKenzie include £12,000 for advice on preventing the NAO disclosing the salaries of senior BBC presenters.
The NAO was preparing a value-for-money report on the BBC’s coverage of major events, which included a table of costs.
After the Trust’s intervention, the NAO amended the table so that ‘talent’ costs were grouped with costs for other staff working on the events, and the full figures were obscured.
Lib Dem culture spokesman Don Foster said the figures raised ‘important questions’ about the wisdom of the Trust employing a tiny legal team.
He added: ‘This looks like an expensive way of obtaining legal advice rather than having a larger in-house legal team. The NAO may want to examine this.’
A BBC Trust spokesman said there were no plans to expand its legal team, consisting of one in-house lawyer, adding: ‘The Trust sometimes engages external lawyers in order to meet fluctuating and often unpredictable demands for legal services.’
The BBC’s governing body has paid £1.8 million to a top international law firm for work including advice on keeping the wages of some of its most high-profile stars confidential.
Figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday show that the BBC Trust – the body that has overall control of the public broadcaster – paid an average of almost £20,000 a week to the London office of Baker & McKenzie during the past two years.
Critics claim the figure represents poor value for money and it has been suggested the National Audit Office (NAO) may investigate the issue.
The payments made to Baker & McKenzie include £12,000 for advice on preventing the NAO disclosing the salaries of senior BBC presenters.
The NAO was preparing a value-for-money report on the BBC’s coverage of major events, which included a table of costs.
After the Trust’s intervention, the NAO amended the table so that ‘talent’ costs were grouped with costs for other staff working on the events, and the full figures were obscured.
Lib Dem culture spokesman Don Foster said the figures raised ‘important questions’ about the wisdom of the Trust employing a tiny legal team.
He added: ‘This looks like an expensive way of obtaining legal advice rather than having a larger in-house legal team. The NAO may want to examine this.’
A BBC Trust spokesman said there were no plans to expand its legal team, consisting of one in-house lawyer, adding: ‘The Trust sometimes engages external lawyers in order to meet fluctuating and often unpredictable demands for legal services.’