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Sky-high costs … BBC has spent £1.3m on flights to and from its studios at Salford, near Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
Sky-high costs … BBC has spent £1.3m on flights to and from its studios at Salford, near Manchester. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

BBC spends £1.3m on flights to and from Manchester

This article is more than 10 years old
Cost of rail travel for more than 100 managers has also risen since relocation to MediaCity in Salford Quays

The suspicion that British Airways and Virgin Trains would be among the beneficiaries of the BBC's move to Salford appears to be borne out by figures on travel costs published this week.

Between May 2011 and September 2013 the BBC has spent £1.3m on flights for staff shuttling to and from Manchester, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request.

The cost of staff rail travel for more than 100 senior managers has also increased significantly across the BBC as a whole since the corporation began moving some 2,300 post to its new northern base in the MediaCity development at Salford Quays in May 2011.

Rail travel cost the BBC £29,847 in the three months to the end of June 2010, rising to £47,358 in the same period the following year, during which corporation departments began moving from London to Salford, according to the corporation's latest quarterly travel and expenses figures released this week. The figures are for the BBC as a whole, with the cost of trains between London and Manchester not specified.

In the three months to the end of June 2012, by which time the Salford move was completed, rail travel costs were £45,905, rising to £50,146 for the same quarter this year.

Nearly 600 staff from the BBC Children's, Learning, Sport and Future, Media and Technology departments, Radio 5 Live and BBC Breakfast relocated from London to Salford.

"The BBC is a 24-hour organisation with offices across the UK, and, in common with many large businesses, it will incur travel-related costs," said a BBC spokeswoman. "The bulk of these expenses are routine costs inevitably incurred in running a major media organisation. Rail travel is unavoidable and fluctuates from year to year. We are mindful that we are spending public money and we have policies in place to ensure spend on travel is proportionate and appropriate."

The BBC claims that in the long run the Salford move will save it money, with up to £151m in efficiencies forecast up to March 2030.

However, the corporation has come in for criticism from the National Audit Office for offering overly generous relocation packages totalling £24m to entice London staff to move north, with 188 BBC staff receiving £50,000 or more and 11 between £100,000 and £150,000.

Relocating London departments and programmes to Salford was also undertaken with the aim of stimulating long-term economic and creative benefits for the north of England.

The expenses bill for the BBC's top managers totalled £170,975 between April and June this year, up slightly from the £168,314 spent in the previous first three months.

Expenses on taxis remained stable at £23,539, just a £252 quarter on quarter increase, while hotel costs dropped slightly from £29,281 to £27,327.

The biggest expense reduction success story was a 19% fall in the amount spent on flights, which fell from £47,483 to £38,437 quarter on quarter.

"Our expenses are stable … there will always be costs associated with running a large media organisation with bases across the UK and abroad," said the spokeswoman. "But we are mindful we are spending public money and will continue to work hard to keep expenditure to a minimum."

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This article was amended on 10 December 2013 to clarify that the £1.3m figure is for flights to and from Manchester between May 2011 and September 2013.

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