BBC sends 437 staff to the Beijing Games ... that's 100 MORE than the Olympic team

12 April 2012

The army of BBC staff being sent to cover the Beijing Olympics dwarfs the number of British athletes competing at the games.

Yesterday the corporation revealed 437 employees will be flying to China this summer - compared to just over 300 competitors going to represent Britain.

The numbers being sent by the BBC were revealed after police were called in to investigate missing travel documents.

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The BBC are sending 437 staff to the Beijing Games

Files of information including passport details, home addresses and hotels where staff will be staying disappeared from BBC offices earlier this month.

The staff affected have not been named. But they are believed to include Ten O'Clock News anchor Huw Edwards and BBC sports editor Mihir Bose as well as presenters Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Sue Barker and Olympic swimming champion Sharron Davies.

Corporation spokesmen confirmed that 437 staff would be heading for Beijing after the story of the missing files emerged.

This will be 33 more staff than covered the Olympics in Athens four years ago.

Sending such an enormous contingent flies in the face of the BBC's pleas of poverty after a lower than expected licence fee settlement.

It also follows the massive payout made recently to win back the right to broadcast Formula One.

The corporation paid around £200million for the motor sport rights despite there being no rival bidders.

BBC bosses fear the missing documents have been stolen from Television Centre in West London and internal security is being reviewed.

"We can confirm that we are undertaking a full investigation into how two files containing accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics have gone missing from a private office in Television Centre," a spokesman said.

"We believe these files may have been stolen, and following our own investigation, we have now involved the police.

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BBC bosses have not announced who will be going to the games

"The information in the files includes passport details. However it does not include financial data and internal and external advice that we've taken suggests there is not a high risk of fraud.

"We are in the process of contacting everyone involved and are also reviewing our internal security as a matter of urgency."

The files are thought to have gone missing over the weekend of March 14.

BBC director of sport Roger Mosey has sent an email to staff asking for help retrieving the files, while those affected have been contacted.

There have been claims that the BBC has been spending excessive amounts on its sports coverage.

Last week it was revealed that the corporation had paid around £200million for the rights to screen Formula One - £50million more than ITV paid for its current deal - despite having no rival bidders.

The corporation won back the right to broadcast the event after 12 years.

It announced a five-year deal starting next year.

But BBC bosses were criticised for splashing out massive amounts of cash on sports broadcasting rights when they were not even faced with a competitive bidding process.

The Formula One costs emerged after Liberal think-tank Progressive Vision submitted a Freedom of Information request demanding the BBC make the costs public.

The news of the enormous numbers being sent to Beijing will add to criticism that the BBC is spending excessively.

Critics fear it is wasting money by duplicating the roles of its staff at big events.

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