The new Culture Secretary, Karen Bradley, has said that the BBC will be forced to name all employees, presenters and talent at the network who are paid more than £150,000 per year.

A clause specifying the publication of such details is to be inserted into a draft of the BBC’s next Royal Charter. Currently, the broadcaster publishes details of executive pay above this level, but the government wants to push it a step further to bring the BBC “in line with the civil service” on transparency.

Claudia WinklemanClaudia Winkelman, who co-presents 'Strictly Come Dancing' is one of those whose pay is expected to be revealed

Bradley, who has been in the post of Culture Secretary since July this year, said it would help ensure the BBC “produces value for money for the licence fee” and that more transparency could lead to savings that could be “invested in even more great programmes.”

However, the BBC argues that the release of such details would impair its ability to attract and retain top talent – either because other broadcasters could poach them by making better offers, or for privacy reasons - and that in any case it has already made £8 million of savings in this respect.

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The Beeb’s director general Tony Hall has said: “Our position on talent pay has not changed and all major broadcasters have questioned the merit of the proposal. The BBC operates in a competitive market and this will not make it easier for the BBC to retain the talent the public love.”

Rona Fairhead, who earlier this week stepped down as head of the BBC Trust, said the governing body was “disappointed with the decision on the disclosure of presenters’ pay. We don’t believe this is in the long-term interests of licence fee payers.”

However, unveiling the draft charter which builds on the controversial white paper that was announced back in May, Bradley argued that licence payers deserved to know where their money was going.

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