BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten downplays scale of BBC severance payoffs Subscribe to the Press Association: http://bit.ly/RvMVLq BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has attempted to downplay the scale of the £3m-plus severance sweeteners given to departing senior BBC executives, arguing that it is about half the cost of what BSkyB and BT pay to air half a Premiership match. Patten, appearing in front of a committee of MPs to discuss the BBC's annual report, also said the BBC Trust has had a good record over the last 12 months, despite the disastrous appointment of George Entwistle as director general. On severance pay he said that he felt he needed to contextualise the issue. "[I'd like to raise] one other point that does not in any way excuse the way in which, for years, severance payments have been handled," he said. "In the two periods covered by KPMG and National Audit Office [investigations] the BBC overspent on severance payments by £3.8m. It is about what other TV networks would pay for televising the first half of a Premiership football match". Patten was referring to pay-TV companies BSkyB and BT which in a Premier League TV rights bidding battle paid a record £3bn over three years, making the cost of each individual televised match £6.6m. Patten also added that the amount received by departing senior BBC executives that was beyond their contractual entitlement "is a lot less than the figures we are talking about in the Digital Media Initiative [project]". The BBC has admitted that it has wasted almost £100m on the DMI, a project designed to make the corporation "tapeless", and is currently investigating how it was bungled. Patten addressed what he referred to as the "car crash" appearance of the BBC's top management in front of MP Margaret Hodge's public accounts committee in September. "It is dangerous to get into a Match of the Day analysis after the game, but it wasn't a glorious day for the BBC and it wasn't meant to be a glorious day for the BBC," he said. "One or two of us found ourselves answering questions about, in my case, things before I was chairman of the BBC Trust". He pointed to issues such as former deputy director general Mark Byford's almost £1m severance pay deal. "I would defend the record over the last year," he said. "I do think people would say we made the wrong choice of director general but it was unanimous when we made it. I don't seem to recall anyone saying we made the wrong choice. Unfortunately George [Entwistle] was overwhelmed by events but he was a decent broadcaster and programme maker". Patten added: "It has never been the job of the Trust to run the BBC. We do tend to get blamed for everything that has gone wrong whether or not we are responsible for it". News, Sport and Entertainment videos: http://www.youtube.com/pressassociation Follow PA on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pressassoc The Press Association: http://www.pressassociation.com

• published: 22 Oct 2013
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