BBC expenses revealed

The corporation has revealed expenses claims for its 10 executive directors...

11:35 26 June 2009

The BBC has published the expenses claims of the chief executives from the last five years.

The corporation has revealed expenses claims for its 10 executive directors since the 2004/5 financial claims after Freedom of Information requests.

It shows that BBC director general Mark Thompson claimed more than £2,000 when he flew his family home from a holiday in order to deal with the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand palaver concerning the Andrew Sachs answer phone message.

He also claimed for a bottle of champagne costing £99.99 as a gift to Bruce Forsyth on his 80th birthday, a £622.94 bill for staying in an LA hotel and a £641.25 dinner bill, incurred when Thompson met with BBC TV controllers.

BBC Vision director Jana Bennett is shown to have spent more than £1,200 on a five night stay in LA and to have claimed £500 after her handbag was stolen while on BBC duty.

Bennett also spent £35 having her hair styled prior to a TV interview.

However the report failed to reveal details of BBC stars' pay, such as Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton.

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative Culture spokesman complained that the disclosures were not enough.

He told the Times: "It's not just the top ten or top 100 people who should disclose their expenses - all the BBC employees are part of a public organisation.

"What we did at Westminster shows what happens when you don’t disclose expenses - you lose public trust.”

However the BBC has announced that later in the year it will release pay and expenses details for around 100 members of staff to make the corporation more open.