MPs attack BBC over accounts openness

The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts said it was concerned about the BBC's track record of committing public money "without full analysis of the costs and benefits".

On talent costs, it questioned BBC arguments that the market was responsible for driving up salaries of its top radio presenters and criticised the corporation for agreeing confidentiality agreements with some of its stars.

The public expect more transparency and accountability from the broadcaster, the report, entitled Scrutiny of Value for Money at the BBC, said.

It criticised the BBC for being "less than transparent" with information it offered to the committee on occasions.

Learning lessons to improve value for money appeared to be "more opportunistic than structured and culturally embedded," it said.

The BBC receives 3.5bn a year in public money, it said, but is not accountable to Parliament on its spending.

The report said that the Government recognised that current auditing arrangements were "unsatisfactory" but planned to address them in 2016.

Committee chairman and Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh said it was "not acceptable" to put "proper accountability on hold for six years".

He said: "The BBC is currently immune from being properly held to account for its spending of billions of pounds of public money.

"It is a publicly owned and funded organisation, receiving an annual grant from Parliament."