BBC 'open to regular NAO reviews'

The BBC has signalled that it may allow the National Audit Office to examine its accounts on a regular basis in a bid to demonstrate greater financial transparency. Appearing before the Commons public accounts committee, Jeremy Peat, a senior BBC trustee and Mark Thompson, the corporation's director general, insisted they had improved control of large-scale building projects in London, Manchester and Glasgow. The committee had asked to examine senior BBC executives in the wake of a damaging NAO inquiry which found that the corporation spent £100m more than originally planned redeveloping Broadcasting House in central London. "We would be very happy to consider the NAO as auditor if it's interested in the contract when it's next tendered in 2012,"said Peat, who is a BBC trustee for Scotland. "We are trying to be as transparent as possible." The NAO is the government's financial watchdog, examining public expenditure and producing reports on the efficiency of government spending. Asked whether the BBC might be interested in taking over the Olympic media centre in East London after 2012, Thompson said that the corporation's long-term strategy was aimed at consolidation on a smaller number of key sites rather than acquiring new centres. "Much of our output and the majority of our production by the end of this charter period will be outside London," he said. "We are not looking to acquire new facilities in London. We are shrinking our facilities in London." The new centres being built at Broadcasting House in London, Salford Quays in Manchester and Pacific Quay in Glasgow meant that the BBC's new property portfolio cost less than the older buildings being replaced, Thompson insisted. On the question of closing down 6 Music and the Asian Network, the director general promised that Radio 2 would now take on specialist music programmes and offer a more "distinctive" sound than before. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".