Mr. Kevin Bakhurst:

I have been looking at that. Clearly, that has been in question. To be fair to those executives, and I think we should be fair, they volunteered to take a pay cut for two years on the basis that they hoped there would be a pay cut across the organisation. While that did not transpire, they still took that pay cut for two years. I have no doubt that the Minister should have been aware when it was restored and I do not understand why that did not happen. I have been talking to the executives. We currently have a mixed team on the interim leadership team and I am working to, in due course, appoint a permanent leadership team, although with my recruitment freeze, that will not be straightforward over the next couple of months.

When I do that, I want to benchmark what all the executives earn. I have done quick benchmarking with other partners around Europe and the European Broadcasting Union on what executives and chief executives in those broadcasters earn. We need to make sure that we are paying fairly. It is critical to me, in delivering the radical change that I am planning, that I have a talented team around me to help me to deliver that. I already know from my own case, and I think I have said this before, that we are not that competitive with some of these salaries. I know that is a hard thing to say for people because it looks like a lot of money to most ordinary people. We have to look at it in the context of competing for top talent. I want to be realistic and I will be transparent in that process. When I do that benchmarking, I will come back and publish the salaries of the leadership team going forward, so everyone will know what they are earning every year and can ask those questions in due course.