BBC chief claims 120 job cuts will not harm programmes

JOB cuts at the BBC in Scotland will not damage its ability to cover major stories, such as the referendum on Scottish independence, the head of the corporation told MSPs yesterday.

Mark Thompson, director-general, confirmed that about 120 posts would go at BBC Scotland by 2017 in a push to reduce its budget by 16 per cent.

He was appearing before the culture committee and heard concerns that the £16.1 million of cuts could lead to a fall in standards.

Joan McAlpine, SNP MSP, told him: “Last year the BBC’s audience council for Scotland reported that audiences here want more, not less, Scottish news and deeper analysis and coverage.

“You’re cutting the news and current affairs budget in Scotland by 16 per cent over the next five years. How do you justify that in terms of what audiences say they want?”

Mr Thompson, who is leaving the BBC in the autumn, said it was “completely reasonable” to make savings where this could be done if standards were maintained.

“The most important thing of all is making sure that the programmes and services we offer the Scottish public are as good as they possibly can be,” he added.

He told MSPs that the looming independence referendum was a “gigantic” story.

“It will be one of the largest domestic stories the BBC has covered in recent years and will be properly resourced,” he added.

He also insisted BBC Radio Scotland was being “very strongly protected”, while reports that Radio Four’s Today programme was not facing the reductions were “misleading and wrong”.

He added: “The efficiency targets we’re looking for from Radio Four are very comparable with those we’re looking for from BBC Radio Scotland. They’re slightly lower, but it’s just over 11 per cent rather than 13 per cent.

“It’s a myth that there is an enormous chasm between the way we are approaching Radio Four and the way we are approaching Radio Scotland.

“Radio Scotland is also being very strongly protected.”

Committee convener Stewart Maxwell said it had been reported that the budget of Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS) programme was equivalent to the salary of presenter Jeremy Paxman.

Mr Maxwell asked Mr Thompson if he had considered 10 per cent salary cuts for “individual senior very expensive” staff, instead of programming.

Mr Thompson said the GMS budget was very substantially higher that Mr Paxman’s salary, although he refused to discuss the price of individual programmes.

He said: “You’ll know that we have been reducing the amount of money spent on senior presenters very significantly in recent years.”

The corporation would also not get involved in “scenario planning” for how the BBC could be funded and run in an independent Scotland, Mr Thompson added, as this would endanger its “impartiality” in the lead-up to the referendum.

The committee was told the BBC collects £300m in licence money north of the Border, with £200m being spent in Scotland on Scottish services and £100m earmarked for Scotland’s contribution to all of the other services that Scots can use.