British Broadcasting Commission

Book excerpt: On Saturday 10 November 2012, the BBC Director General George Entwistle agreed to resign after just 54 days in the job. In order to secure his quick departure, the BBC Trust agreed to a pay-off that included 12 months' salary of £450,000, twice what he was contractually entitled to. The BBC Trust also agreed to give the former Director General 12 months' private medical cover and contribute to the cost of legal fees and public relations advice connected with his departure and his participation in the ongoing inquiries into Newsnight and Sir Jimmy Savile. The Comptroller and Auditor General offered to carry out an immediate and independent audit examination of the package, in time to inform the deliberations of this Committee but the BBC Trust refused to take that offer up. This inhibited Parliament's ability to hold the Trust to account for its use of public money and Entwistle's severance package could only be considered on the basis of information publicly available. Furthermore, since November 2010 the BBC has made severance payments to 10 other senior managers at a total cost of more than £4 million. These payments are excessive and completely out of keeping with public expectations about how their licence fee money is spent. It also emerged that 422 senior BBC managers received private medical cover worth £667,489 as part of their remuneration packages in 2012. The Comptroller and Auditor General has been asked to examine severance payments and benefits for senior managers as part of his future programme of work on the BBC