Executive relocation

Big up fearless BBC staff organ Ariel, reporting on BBC executive's expenses. The party line is that, overall, they've fallen by 4% per cent on the previous quarter. Ariel, however, choses to headline that, compared annually, they've risen by 2%.

The final quarter of the year, covering January, February and March, has executives reporting on transport booked and recorded centrally - but also features claims for taxis hired on the streets with receipts, a good number taken across the festive season.

Taking the total taxi bill and claims of the seven-strong Executive alone, that cost £4,466.12. It's worth saying that's on top of Mark Thompson's car and driver (annual cost £64k, quarterly cost £16k) plus a second car and driver, contracted by the BBC for the Chairman, but not required by Lord Patten over this period (thus another £16k). So the total cost of moving executives around in the back seat on four wheels for the three months was £36,500.

Anything else unusual about this quarter ?  Well, the race to replace Mark Thompson had been publicly declared in January.  Mark booked a trip to New York in February, at a return cost of £3,245. His Director of Future Media, Ralph Rivera may have had time to hunt for a better deal for his visit to the Big Apple the following month - a mere £1,200.  Lucy Adams, Director of Business Operations got a bigger bargain in Q4 2011 - JFK return for £441.