More Cronyism as Another BBC Exec Benefits

[Teddy Bear]

With the BBC pompously announcing their reason for making George Alagiah step down as patron of the charity Fairtrade is 'to conform to its impartiality rules', despite Alagiah having been perfectly humanistic in his endeavour, another BBC executive has been found to have their snouts deeply in the trough for their own advantage.

Second BBC executive under fire as husband is revealed to make £2m from BBC deals
By Daily Mail Reporter

Just days after BBC 1 controller Jay Hunt's husband was revealed to be making money from the corporation by running a media training firm, a second nepotism row involving a senior executive has broken out.
BBC Vision director Jana Bennett's husband has a stake in a company paid more than £2m for making programmes for the corporation, it was revealed today.
Ms Bennett is married to Richard Clemmow, director of Juniper Communications and Peer 2 Peer Media, which has made a series of shows for the broadcaster including The Politics Show and documentary series The Blair Years.

The revelation comes after news that Jay Hunt’s husband Ian Blandford runs a media training firm, BrightsparkTV, that is paid to coach BBC staff - and that she is the company secretary.
The BBC said Hunt, who earns up to £280,000 at the BBC and is a mother of two, has an unpaid role at Brightspark TV and that there is no conflict of interest.

But the corporation has come under fire from MPs and taxpayers who believe their is a conflict of interest, and for sending staff to the private company for training even though it has its own internal Training and Development Department.

The revelation that Ms Bennett's husband appears to be profiting from her role will put further pressure on the corporation to review its conflict of interest regulations.

She was given the all-clear to carry on helping her husband run the training firm, but newsreader George Alagiah was forced to quit as patron of a charity because of a conflict of interests.
Ms Bennett, 52, is the third highest paid boss at the BBC, controlling a budget of more than £1 billion and in overall charge of all television output.

Mr Clemmow, 54, owns 10 per cent of Juniper Communications and became a director in July 2006. The company’s main owner is Samir Shah — a non-executive member of the BBC board.
Company accounts show that since 2006 the BBC has paid Juniper £2,285,835. The firm made £623,881 in 2006, £946,693 in 2007 and £715,261 last year.
Mr Clemmow also runs Peer 2 Peer Media, a company that has made programmes for Radio 4. He lives with his wife in a £1 million home in Ealing.

Earlier this year a BBC report said Bennett had claimed £59,637 in expenses over the previous five years.
A BBC spokesman said Bennett had not broken corporation rules. He said: 'There is absolutely no question of any conflict of interest related to the BBC’s use of either Juniper Communications Ltd or Peer 2 Peer Media.
'The BBC’s rigorous conflict of interest policy lays down strict procedures to prevent one arising.

'Where executives have a close relationship with someone in a company we are doing significant business with, they may not play a role in the decision-making process related to the award of any such business, including any commercial sum.'
Other senior BBC executives are related to people who run companies that are paid licence fee money.Laura Parfitt, wife of Radio 1 chief Andy Parfitt, won £73,000 of radio commissions for her White Pebble Media company.
BBC Wales boss Menna Richards authorised payments totalling £142,000 to Torpedo — a production company run by her sister Ceri.

[Teddy Bear]

This cronyism recently discovered about the BBC is not just about selecting certain private companies to do work that the BBC would have to farm out anyway, but on top of facilities and personnel that the BBC pays for within its own corporation.

BBC's £45m on training at four centres - so why do they need to hire companies owned by people they already employ?
By Martin Delgado

The BBC has four training centres of its own around the country costing the licence-fee payer £45million a year – yet still regularly sends its presenters to private companies for broadcasting coaching.
It employs 220 permanent staff to run sessions that cover virtually every aspect of TV and radio broadcasting.
They take place at two London premises – Marylebone High Street and White City – as well as Elstree in Hertfordshire and Wood Norton, a picturesque 170-acre estate on the banks of the River Avon near Evesham in Worcestershire.
Such extensive training facilities make it all the more surprising that Olympic rowing champion Sir Matthew Pinsent and newly appointed BBC sports editor Mihir Bose were sent for training at BrightsparkTV – the company of which BBC1 Controller Jay Hunt is secretary.
Her husband Ian Blandford is the company’s sole director and shareholder.
Sir Matthew and Mr Bose – who resigned unexpectedly from the Corporation last week – could have acquired the same knowledge on virtually identical courses run by the BBC’s own Training and Development department.
One, called Television News or Sport Presentation, seems tailor-made to the needs of reporters and presenters from non-broadcasting backgrounds, as was the case with both Mr Bose and Sir Matthew, who is now one of the BBC’s top sports commentators.

Aimed at ‘anyone who will be expected to present news, sport or any factual programmes from a live television studio’, it includes instruction on ‘poise, precision and style’, use of autoscript and ‘how to deal with technical problems in a calm and confident way’.
Another, entitled Going Live, is described in the BBC training manual as being of benefit to anyone involved in TV news, sport or current affairs.

Journalist Skills – is billed as ‘an all-round introduction to the skills of television news journalism’ where students ‘learn to script and present news, select sound and pictures, and understand the process of putting a live news programme on air’.

According to the latest BBC Annual Report, the training department delivered over 70,000 days of coaching to more than 49,000 people in the Corporation and the ‘wider media industry’ last year.
The BBC refused to discuss the value of its contract with BrightsparkTV, which made a pre-tax profit of £117,618 in the year to August 31, 2008, and nearly doubled its turnover during the same period from £84,994 to £160,402.
Sir Matthew and Mr Bose are unstinting in their praise of BrightsparkTV on its website.
Mr Bose, who was a newspaper journalist before joining the BBC three years ago, writes: ‘I cannot speak too highly of Ian [Blandford]. I could not have had a better guide to television.’

Sir Matthew’s comments are equally complimentary: ‘I was taken on by the BBC in 2006 and thankfully they sent me straight to Ian for some of the finer points of presentation. I shudder to think how bad it would have been without his input.’
Mr Bose was unavailable for comment last week.
Sir Matthew said he could not remember where his training sessions had taken place as it had all happened ‘some time ago’.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC Academy provides coaching for presenters and reporters across all areas of the BBC, including national and local radio and sport.
‘Due to each person’s needs being so specific, this kind of training is delivered on a one-to-one basis to make sure it is carefully targeted and as effective as possible, both in terms of time and cost.
‘The BBC Academy hires freelancers and contractors to do some areas of specific training.
‘This is a cheaper way of having access to experts in niche areas.’

[Teddy Bear]

Despite protesting that she had done nothing wrong
by being the company secretary in Brightspark, her husband's company, at the same time as she was raking in £280,000 a year as BBC controller, notwithstanding that Brightspark had also earned lots out of the BBC at the same time, she has decided to step down from what she calls a 'passive role'.

I doubt it will change her husband still being awarded contracts by the BBC, just make the cronyism less obvious. Notice that all she had to do when she first accepted the role in Brightspark was - ‘I told the BBC and my line manager. There was no conflict of interest and that was that.’

'Trusting souls' aren't they?

BBC boss Jay Hunt in ‘jobs for the boys’ row to quit husband’s firm
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
BBC1 controller Jay Hunt has revealed she will step down as company secretary of her husband’s firm, which makes thousands of pounds a year teaching presenting skills to the Corporation’s own employees.

Ms Hunt, who earns £280,000 a year with the BBC, helped her husband Ian Blandford set up BrightsparkTV in August 2006.

Last month, The Mail on Sunday revealed how the firm made £117,000 in pre-tax profits and doubled its turnover last year, through training courses for high-profile TV personalities.

It also used BBC studios and other facilities for some of its training sessions.

Former BBC sports editor Mihir Bose and ex-Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, one of the Corporation’s leading sports commentators, have both used BrightsparkTV.

Ms Hunt and the Corporation have repeatedly denied any conflict of interest, something she reiterated yesterday at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival.

Ms Hunt said a change in legislation meant small businesses no longer needed a company secretary.

‘This is something I agreed to do three years ago across the dinner table when he was setting his company up,’ she added.

‘My husband made it clear to me that it would involve no active part in the business. It was a passive role.

‘I told the BBC and my line manager. There was no conflict of interest and that was that.’