Working lunches

The BBC has provided the cost of catering for some of its Executive Board meetings, in response to a Freedom of Information enquiry, and following a complaint to the Information Commissioner by the enquirer. He was really after internal hospitality costs in News, and, as usual, Auntie says information about feeding journalists is held for the purposes of journalism.

Scran for the Executive meetings cost as follows...

September 2014 £490.80
October 2014 £416.20
December 2014 £277.30
January 2015 £65.95
February 2015 £15.90
March 2015 £204.00

The BBC urges us to include this quote. “These meetings can be lengthy and substantive, with attendees having to work through lunch so limited food or refreshments are provided. The average cost for these six meetings was £11 per person.”

Or around twice that per head, for the best-catered meeting.

There's no suggestion that the Executive Directors and Non-Executive Directors might bring their own sandwiches. That's, presumably, for lower ranks.

• Sunday update: A number of working lower rankers have pointed out to me that current limit on BBC expenses for lunch when working more than 5 miles from base, or unable to return to base, is £6.