BBC Slated Over George Entwistle Pay-Off

By Niall Paterson, Media Correspondent

The BBC has been criticised over its decision to award a former director-general a pay-off of £450,000 - double what he would have received had he resigned voluntarily - less than two months after he started.

George Entwistle resigned after just 54 days in the job, following widespread criticism of his handling of the aftermath of the Newsnight Jimmy Savile investigation.

He received the bumper pay-off in order to speed up his departure from the broadcaster.

But a report from the Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the BBC of "cavalier" spending of public money, and said it was "out of line both with public expectations and what is considered acceptable elsewhere in the public sector".

The committee also criticised the pay-offs given to 10 other senior managers. Former deputy director-general Mark Byford got £949,000 on his departure.

Former chief operating officer Caroline Thomson received £670,000 when she left earlier this year.

During a PAC session, MPs claimed she had been awarded the money partly as "compensation" after she missed out on the job of director-general.

Describing the severance payments as "excessively generous", the committee's report also highlights its concern that the BBC Trust, which agreed Mr Entwistle's package, turned down an offer from the National Audit Office to examine the deal on his departure.

BBC chair Lord Patten has defended Mr Entwistle's pay-off

PAC chairman Margaret Hodge said: "This cavalier use of public money is out of line with public expectations and what is considered acceptable elsewhere in the public sector."

But the BBC Trust defended Mr Entwistle's pay-off, saying the "terms reached were the best available in the circumstances".

A Trust spokeswoman said: "It is simply wrong to suggest the BBC Trust had a choice between a severance payment of £450,000 or half that level.

"Indeed, if we had faced a constructive dismissal situation it would have cost us more and could have been a messy and long drawn-out process.

"It is also not the case that the Trust refused to take up the offer to review the package - on the contrary, we suggested a wider study of severance payments at the BBC, which the NAO will now undertake."

The committee raised further concerns about the use of public money to provide private health care for senior BBC staff.

Ms Hodge said: "The BBC's generosity with severance packages goes beyond the one awarded to George Entwistle. Since 2010, over £4m in total has been made in severance payments to 10 other departing senior managers.

"The BBC is also providing 422 senior managers with private medical cover as part of their remuneration packages.

"We have asked the comptroller and auditor general to include in his 2013 programme of work on the BBC an examination of severance payments and benefits for senior managers."

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