British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 B6 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
Telephone 020 8008 2882 Email xxx@xxx.xx.xx
Information Policy & Compliance
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Karla Pilkington
Via email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
23 August 2017
Dear Ms Pilkington,
Freedom of Information Requests – RFI20171138
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 25th July 2017, seeking the following information under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’):
The BBC Annual Report does not provide the information I requested on the number of staff in each
division with salaries of £100,000 or more.
Please conduct an internal review into why the information I requested on grades SM1 and SM2 has
not been provided and why I was told information would be in the Annual Report when it is not.
Please provide the information I requested:
Broken down by BBC division (eg TV, News, etc) the number of staff employed by each division,
further broken down into the numbers that fall into each salary grade (from 2 to SM1) in each
division.
Please also give me a figure for the total wage bil for each division. (Grade 2 to SM1)
Please could you further break down the figures to show the number of staff in each grade, in each
division, whose salary is in excess of the maximum salary set down by the BBC in its standard pay
bands, and the number with salaries of £100,000 or more.
Response
As SM2 data was not requested in your previous request RFI20170640, we have treated data in relation to
SM2’s as a new request for information.
We are providing information relating to staff employed on permanent or fixed-term contracts as at 31
March 2017. Please note, due to small numbers in some of the divisions, we have grouped Director
Generals Office, Editorial Standards & Policy and Policy into ‘Deputy Director General Group’ in the tables
below to prevent individuals from being identified. Please also note that this is a Headcount figure and will
differ from the ETF count in the BBC Annual Review.
Table 1 below shows the number of staff employed at SM2 within each division.
Division
Number of SM’s
Content
19
Deputy Director General
Group
52
Nations and Regions
26
News and Current Affairs
65
Radio and Education
23
Table 2 below shows the number of SM2’s earning £100,000 or above.
Division
Number of SM’s
Content
16
Deputy Director General
Group
42
Nations and Regions
s40(2)
News and Current Affairs
24
Radio and Education
18
We are withholding the information broken down by division for Nations and Regions under section 40(2)
(personal information) of the Act, as this relates to a small number, it could lead to individuals being identified.
Under section 40(2) of the Act, personal information about identifiable living individuals is exempt if disclosure to a
third party would breach one or more principles in the Data Protection Act 1998. The individuals concerned
would not expect their salary details to be disclosed to a third party. To do so would be unfair; therefore,
disclosure would breach the First Data Protection Principle (fair and lawful processing).
If you plan to publish or broadcast a story using the information provided in this response please include
the following statement from the BBC.
A BBC spokesman said:
“We saved £172m in 16/17 and now only 5 percent of our total costs go on running the organisation. We
have all but halved the number of senior managers in eight years cutting costs by 46 per cent – as a
consequence some posts have taken on more responsibilities and this is reflected in pay.”
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at
the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your reference
number. If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
(national rate) or s
ee http://www.ico.gov.uk/.
Yours sincerely
The Information Policy and Compliance Team
Workplace & Information Rights, BBC Legal
Freedom of Information
From January 2005 the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 gives a general right of access to al types of
recorded information held by public authorities. The Act also sets out exemptions from that right and
places a number of obligations on public authorities. The term “public authority” is defined in the Act; it
includes al public bodies and government departments in the UK. The BBC, Channel 4, S4C and MG Alba
are the only broadcasting organisations covered by the Act.
Application to the BBC
The BBC has a long tradition of making information available and accessible. It seeks to be open and
accountable and already provides the public with a great deal of information about its activities. BBC
Audience Services operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week handling telephone and written comments
and queries, and the BBC’s website bbc.co.uk provides an extensive online information resource.
It is important to bear this in mind when considering the Freedom of Information Act and how it applies to
the BBC. The Act does not apply to the BBC in the way it does to most public authorities in one significant
respect. It recognises the different position of the BBC (as wel as Channel 4 and S4C) by saying that it
covers information “held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature”. This means the
Act does not apply to information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output (TV, radio, online
etc), or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.
A great deal of information within this category is currently available from the BBC and will continue to be
so. If this is the type of information you are looking for, you can check whether it is available on the BBC’s
website bbc.co.uk or contact BBC Audience Services.
The Act does apply to al of the other information we hold about the management and running of the BBC.
The BBC
The BBC's aim is to enrich people's lives with great programmes and services that inform, educate and
entertain. It broadcasts radio and television programmes on analogue and digital services in the UK. It
delivers interactive services across the web, television and mobile devices. The BBC's online service is one
of Europe's most widely visited content sites. Around the world, international multimedia broadcaster BBC
World Service delivers a wide range of language and regional services on radio, TV, online and via wireless
handheld devices, together with BBC World News, the commercially-funded international news and
information television channel.
The BBC's remit as a public service broadcaster is defined in the BBC Charter and Agreement. It is the
responsibility of the BBC Trust (the sovereign body within the BBC) to ensure that the organisation
delivers against this remit by setting key objectives, approving strategy and policy, and monitoring and
assessing performance. The Trustees also safeguard the BBC's independence and ensure the Corporation is
accountable to its audiences and to Parliament.
Day-to-day operations are run by the Director-General and his senior management team, the Executive
Board. Al BBC output in the UK is funded by an annual Licence Fee. This is determined and regularly
reviewed by Parliament. Each year, the BBC publishes an Annual Report & Accounts, and reports to
Parliament on how it has delivered against its public service remit.