House of Commons - Committee of Public Accounts: The BBC's Move to Salford - HC 293

Book excerpt: The BBC did a good job in completing the move to Salford on time, within budget and without disruption services. However, the scale of some of the allowances paid to staff to relocate to Salford is difficult to justify. There were 11 cases where the cost of relocating staff exceeded £100,000 per person, with one costing £150,000. The BBC also failed to make a proper record of the exceptions it made to its allowance policy. The longer term success of the move to Salford depends on the BBC achieving the wider benefits it promised. These include reducing the gap between Northern and Southern audiences in the BBC's market share and stimulating economic and other regional benefits, including creating up to 15,000 jobs. The BBC should set clearly defined expectations for its relationships with its commercial partners and make clear that they must pay their fair share of tax. The BBC's decision to enter into a 10-year contract with the Peel Group for studio space at Salford seems to take little account the fast pace of change in the broadcasting industry. The BBC could end up having to pay for studio services it no longer needs and become overly dependent on them. There is also dismay at the abandonment of the BBC's Digital Media Initiative at a cost to the licence fee payer of £100 million. There have been conflicting reports from the BBC and the BBC Trust on what the project did or did not deliver