The BBC Trust has today published details of its expenses bill – and shown it has made an overall cut to just under £23,000, down 16% on the £27,616 spent in the previous six months.
The figures released detail the expenditure between October 2014 and March 2015 which include periods for two Northern trustees who have now left the organisation.
University of Manchester economist Diane Coyle stepped down as BBC Trust vice chairman at the end of April. Coyle, OBE, a former treasury adviser, served as a BBC trustee since November 2006 and became vice chairman in March 2011 under chairman Rona Fairhead. She claimed a total of £835.61 in the six month period.
Former Newcastle Chronicle editor Alison Hastings, who had previously been the Trust’s highest expenses claimant, this time received just £751.84. She left the body, along with fellow trustee David Liddiment, in October.
Some trustees claimed for larger bills with trustee for Scotland Bill Matthews racking up a bill of more than £6,000, over half of which was for flights between London and Glasgow.
Among those who were trustees for the whole six months, the smallest bill was £156.70, filed by Nick Prettejohn, who is also chairman of Scottish Widows and a non-executive director of Lloyds Banking Group.
BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead’s total expenses amounted to £1,676, nearly £1,000 of which went on taxis. She is paid £110,000 a year for a minimum of three days’ work a week.
