Anthony Fry, who sits on the supervisory BBC Trust, said that the salaries earned by some BBC executives seemed like “telephone numbers” to people on ordinary wages.

In October 2009 the Trust, led by chairman Sir Michael Lyons, agreed with director-general Mark Thompson that he would cut the number of senior executives by 18 per cent, from 634 to 520, by 2013. Mr Thompson also agreed to cut the £79million pay bill for those executives by 25 per cent over the same period.

The moves followed persistent criticism of the high pay of some BBC executives and on-air “talent”. Mr Thompson himself was earning in excess of £800,000 a year.

However giving evidence yesterday to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Mr Fry said that he wished that action had been taken sooner.

“This is a matter of legitimate public concern,” said Mr Fry. “At the Trust, we are very focused on that. We have encouraged the director-general in his efforts. If you’re asking me, do I wish that those announcements had been made 24 months ago, I certainly do.

“I think the director-general is getting a grip on this, and I think at the Trust we will continue to press. The pressure is in two regards - the reduction of the number of overall managing layers, and managers within those layers. And there is just a simple straightforward issue that the size of some of the numbers to anybody who’s on an average wage will appear to be telephone numbers.”

Mr Fry, Mr Thompson and the BBC’s head of technology, Erik Huggers, were giving evidence to the committee about the cost of the BBC’s digital media initiative, which is intended to do away with old-fashioned audio and video tape throughout the corporation’s TV and radio production.

The target for the cuts to senior executive numbers and pay at the BBC was last year accelerated to be delivered by the end of 2011.

By:- Neil Midgley

Source:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8325846/Top-BBC-pay-should-hav...