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BBC Lord Patten Jimmy Savile

BBC to learn from 'desperate lows' of last year, vows Lord Patten, as it reveals £5m spent on Jimmy Savile investigations

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By Jessica Davies, News Editor

July 16, 2013 | 4 min read

The BBC will learn lessons from the "desperate lows" of the last year, while focusing on what areas have been great successes including the Olympics coverage, vowed BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten.

Speaking this morning at the BBC's launch of its Annual Report and Accounts for 2012 / 2013 in London Patten said the failings of the last year and the low points experienced by the broadcaster in the wake of the Jimmy Savile revelations were "significant".

He said the broadcaster had "seriously let down" licence fee payers and itself, a factor he also attributed to the Newsnight crises, and the departure of former director general George Entwhistle.

However, the report has revealed that the BBC's reputation and performance with audiences remains "very strong", with audiences consuming an average of 19 hours of BBC content each week.

The Trust has also published a letter written by the director general to the chairman, outlining his approach to reforming the BBC's management culture.

This comprises refreshing his top team and ensuring there is more personal accountability within its culture.

Lord Patten said the last year has been one of the most "turbulent" in the broadcaster's history. "While the priority is clearly the impact on his victims, the Jimmy Savile affair and all that came after it revealed some serious weaknesses in the BBC's culture and behaviours. I welcome the director general's update on how he is addressing these issues, which we also publish today."

He added that the last year has been "mixed" regarding the BBC's value for money, with the failure of the Digital Media Initiative, which cost £98.4m and was aborted before it could be completed.

"We continue to drive down talent and senior management pay to meet challenging efficiency targets, but the failed DMI technology project and unjustifiable severance payments to some senior staff highlight that we have got much further to go in showing licence fee payers that we always treat their investment in us with the respect it deserves," he said.

The total cost to the BBC and BBC Trust for the Pollard Review, in which former head of Sky News Nick Pollard investigated whether there were any failings on behalf of the BBC management surrounding the Jimmy Savile scandal, was £2.4m. The cost of the three Savile-related inquiries up to 31 March 2013 totalled £4.9m, according to the broadcaster.

Meanwhile, the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide saw profits hit £156m, up from £155m in 2011 to 2012, while sales rose 3 per cent to £1,116m. It invested the £156m back into the BBC, taking the latter's total returns to over £1bn. Overall returns fell 28 per cent, which it attributed to the sale of BBC Magazines

In total the programme sales and distribution of BBC Worldwide's 34 branded international channels helped it reach £300m in revenue - a first for the broadcaster's commercial arm - also driven by ad sales .

It also outlined major cuts to senior management salaries, including that of the director general - not set at £450,000, down from £613,000 in 2011 and 2012.

Efficiency savings totalled £580m, while it also shaved £54m from its spend on senior management and pay across the board.

Meanwhile the organisation has also claimed to have invested £1,098m into the UK creative sector.

Earlier today the BBC also revealed its intention to launch five new high definition TV channels.

BBC Lord Patten Jimmy Savile

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