Cost of BBC's Savile-related inquiries set to top £5m
The BBC has published figures today (Tuesday 16 July) revealing the cost of its inquiries relating to the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal are likely to exceed £5m of licence payers money.
The BBC spent a total of £2.4m on The Pollard Review, the inquiry led by the former Sky News boss Nick Pollard. Two further inquiries have increased the sum to £4.9m up to 31 March 2013 with final costs to be declared once all costs have been received.
The costs revealed to date are:
- Total cost to the BBC and to the BBC Trust for The Pollard Review was £2.4m
- Cost of three Savile-related inquiries up to 31 March 2013 was £4.9m
- BBC Executive costs (excluding VAT and tax) were £2.1m. These costs include the publication of the Report on 19 December 2012, and the publication of the Appendices and transcripts on 22 February 2013.
The cost to the BBC Trust of The Pollard Review was £360,910 (excluding tax and VAT). The Review sought to establish whether there were any failings in the BBC’s management of the Newsnight investigation relating to allegations of sexual abuse of children by Jimmy Savile, including the broadcast of tribute programmes on the BBC.
The review also looked at the BBC’s handling of material that might have been of interest to the police or relevant authorities.
The BBC set up three reviews in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal: the Pollard Review; the Respect at Work Review assisted by Dinah Rose QC which was published on 2 May 2013; and Dame Janet Smith’s review into the culture and practices of the BBC during the years that Jimmy Savile worked at the BBC. This includes a detailed investigation by Dame Linda Dobbs DBE into the conduct of Stuart Hall at the BBC, and will publish later this year.
The cost of all three inquiries up to 31 March 2013 was £4.9m. This figure is published in the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Once all associated costs have been received, the BBC will publish the total costs for the Respect at Work and Dame Janet Smith Reviews.
BBC Trust and BBC Executive Costs (excluding VAT and tax) for The Pollard Review
Nick Pollard
£81,600.00
Reed Smith (inc. fees and disbursements)
£893,501.35
Witnesses’ legal costs
£391,120.92
BBC’s external legal support (inc. fees and disbursements). This included, amongst other things, the review of the hard copy disclosure from witnesses, the electronic email review of over 30,000 documents, the review of the Appendices and Transcripts, and preparation of material for disclosure and publication.
£492,436.62
BBC’s technical support (email archive extraction and document management)
£227,292.31
Total cost to the BBC Executive
£2,085,951.20
Total cost to the BBC Trust (external legal support)
£360,910
Total
£2,446,861.20
