We must halve numbers of senior BBC managers, says Lord Patten

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/22/halve-numbers-bbc-managers-lord-patten

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The number of senior BBC managers should be cut by more than half, according to Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust. His comments back the director general's plans to cut the number of managers at the corporation following a bruising battle with parliament over executive pay.

Just two weeks after Patten and the former director general Mark Thompson denied responsibility for massive payoffs to senior managers between 2009 and 2012, Patten has said viewers do not expect BBC bosses to get "sky high commercial rewards" and he wants to see a smaller, more accountable group in charge.

Speaking at the Prix Italia in Turin on Sunday evening, he said: "There are still too many senior managers, around 2.5% of the workforce at the last count. I'd like to see this cut to more like 1% by 2015 at the latest to create a smaller group of people more clearly accountable for spending the licence fee.

"It has been, and will continue to be, a painful process, but it is necessary if we are to secure public confidence."

His words echo those of director general Tony Hall who has said he will light a "bonfire of the boards" in an attempt to cut bureaucracy. Hall said he had been impressed on a recent trip to Silicon Valley by Google's "fail fast" culture. "To launch an initiative, one of our colleagues at Google had to speak to two people," said Hall. "To get agreement to do the BBC's first ebook, someone at the BBC had to speak to more than two dozen."

Patten, who arrived at the BBC two years ago, found the corporation was full of "talented and innovative people" but he had also "found too many bosses who worked hard but were paid too much".

In his speech he said "Licence fee payers don't expect the BBC to pay sky-high commercial rewards to people who work for a public service. They do expect the BBC to deliver the highest quality programmes and services."

A spokeswoman for the BBC Trust said the figures were in line with a programme agreed in 2011 which meant the numbers of management would be reduced from 640 to 220 by 2015.

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