Examination of Witnesses (Questions 100-105)
SIR MICHAEL
JAY, KCMG, MR
RICHARD STAGG,
CMG, MR DAVID
WARREN AND
MR RIC
TODD
26 OCTOBER 2005
Q100 Chairman: Even though you are
not the sponsoring department?
Sir Michael Jay: We would see
ourselves as being a stakeholder and having an interest in BBC
Monitoring, and in its output.
Q101 Chairman: How much will you
be contributing to it?
Mr Todd: I think it is £2½
million.
Q102 Chairman: So the other £2
million, or whatever it is, is coming from where?
Sir Michael Jay: It is coming
from other stakeholders. I do not have the details with me at
the moment.
Q103 Chairman: Could you send us
a note?
Sir Michael Jay: We could send
you a note, Mr Chairman, certainly. [11]
Q104 Andrew Mackinlay: Going back
to my penultimate question, I am also told that there are some
people who have retired early, not through sickness, but are retired
because—and I do not use this in an emotive way—they
are no longer wanted or their face does not fit, but terms are
reached under which they are paid much higher sums than their
service would justify. It is like a package. Could we be told
on how many occasions that has happened
in the past, whatever convenient number of years—three
years, five years, or whatever? I am not talking about where people
go—which I actually have reservations about throughout the
public sector—but where there has been a payment which is
higher than what they should have got. This is people below retirement
age.
Mr Warren: We shall send the Committee
a note in reply to Mr Mackinlay's question, but I would make the
point that all early retirement or early severance agreements
that are reached with staff—and we have reached a number
recently, as part of the downsizing of the Foreign Office—are
reached in terms of the framework that the Cabinet Office imposes
on all departments. So there is no question of our being able
to offer any different terms.
Q105 Andrew Mackinlay: Indeed. So
that if my information is incorrect, there should be no people
who have had more advantageous terms than those which they are
entitled to.
Mr Warren: Indeed.
Andrew Mackinlay: But it has been put
to me that that has happened on some occasions, and no doubt you
would write to me and say, "Mackinlay, your information is
wrong again". It will not be the first time I have been humiliated
but, on the other hand, just remember that sometimes, on some
occasions, I am right!
Chairman: At that point, can we thank
you, Sir Michael, for your and your colleagues' time with us?
It has been a long session. We are very grateful, and no doubt
we will be communicating with you in future. Thank you, gentlemen,
for coming today.
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