On Thursday 12 November 2009 we published the salaries and expenses of 100 senior staff.

• Our announcement is part of the BBC's commitment to disclosure and transparency and puts the Corporation in the vanguard of publicly-funded organisations.


• The numbers published are historic and relate to April to June 2009. In terms of salaries the BBC remains committed to reducing the total pay bill for Directors and senior managers by 25% over 3 years.


• Our disclosure is part of a regular publishing schedule that demonstrates a new and a progressive approach at the BBC. Redactions are just over 1% of the 2,995 lines of information.

Questions and answers

• Does the BBC plan to go further in terms of transparency and disclose lower management salaries?
  We have no plans to disclose lower management salaries. In publishing the salaries and expenses of our 107 key decision makers at the BBC we believe we are providing a significant degree of transparency.


• Should anyone be paid more than the Prime Minister?
  In reality, to compare the salary of the Prime Minister with BBC senior managers doesn't really compare like with like. The BBC has to compete with the broadcasters in the private sector but we always try to pay less. We found that we are paying between 25-65% less for our senior managers than comparable commercial businesses.


• Should the Director-General be paid what he is?
  The Director-General of the BBC is responsible for the BBC's services across television, radio and online and a global workforce of 25,000 people that provides over 400,000 hours of content each year. The BBC and its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, have a combined annual revenue of over £4.5 billion and we believe that the Director-General's salary is commensurate with his responsibilities and duties.


• The BBC has talked about publishing artists' salaries. When are you going to make this announcement? Do you not know how much you spend exactly on artists?
  We are totally committed to publishing artists' salaries in aggregate form and we will show artist pay in total in bands. It is our intention to publish figures in early 2010.


• Why aren't you publishing individual artists' salaries?
  We think that a detailed disclosure would run the risk that on-air talent might migrate to other broadcasters and programme-makers which would ultimately have a negative impact on BBC viewers. Secondly we believe that it would lead to greater pressure to increase talent pay rather than meeting our commitment to drive down talent costs and deliver value for money.


• Overall it looks like BBC senior managers have submitted fewer expenses than before. Is this as a result of the public concern?
  It's worth remembering that the previous expenses disclosure covered a longer period of time. Today is just the three month period (April to June 2009). Moving forward the BBC will disclose expenses on a quarterly basis. We have reviewed our expenses policy but it is still important to remember that expenses will be incurred. We would expect on some occasions for staff to purchase very modest thank you gifts to mark notable successes, outstanding contributions and to support programme development.


• Some of the flights look quite expensive compared to what you might find on the web, were they first class?
  With specific exceptions (such as long distance travel where senior managers are - for example - addressing a conference or attending meetings immediately on arrival) all travel is economy class.
  
  Additionally some flights may have been booked close to the date of departure for a variety of reasons or the most flexible bookings are made to take into account unpredictability in terms of meetings.


• Wouldn't it be cheaper for senior managers just to book their own tickets online?
  It isn't feasible for senior managers - with their existing workloads and responsibilities - to also have to arrange all their own travel. Central bookings allow travel bookings to be made easily in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner and is common practice in large organisations.


• The BBC has said that it will disclose a register of interests. When will this happen?
  This will happen as soon as we can but no later than the first quarter of next year. It has taken longer than we thought to organise this data across the BBC so we can present it in a uniform and easy to use way.