Fees

The stand-off between the Culture Select Committee and the BBC over disclosing legal costs in pay and discrimination disputes has only been partially resolved. 

Bystanders might argue that Andrew Scadding, employed by the BBC to smooth relations with organs of Government, has rather tweaked the nose of committee chair Julian Knight, by opening his most recent letter "We have diverted some resource to gather the data requested by the Committee". 

Mr Knight's riposte "The BBC’s line that it had to divert resources in order to gather the information we requested is frankly completely unacceptable and shows a disregard for public scrutiny."

And, of course, not everything is revealed by Auntie, apart from the fact that "The BBC was billed a total of £1,121,652 by external lawyers (solicitors and barristers)" in such cases since July 2017.  The committee might reasonably now ask what proportion of external spend on legal advice that represents, and how it compares with previous periods.

There's badness on both sides here. The committee seems to want the BBC to roll over in all cases of alleged discrimination, which can't be right. At the BBC, the 'costs' of dealing with claims of fair and equal pay have spread far and wide, with an ongoing contract with lawyers Croner, a number of expensive consultant's reports on identifying the scale of the problem, and then follow-up reports to give a 'clean bill of health'; and the time of senior managers in 'hearing grievances'. 

Let's hope this is all over soon.