Talk about the mountain going to Mohammed. The Public Accounts Committee — members, clerks, paperwork and the usual handful of stringers-on — is travelling to Salford today to conduct a parliamentary select committee hearing in the BBC’s spangly new headquarters.
The purpose of the hearing is to evaluate whether the taxpayer got value for money from the Beeb’s expensive move up north — ironically, a question that could be also be asked about the location of the hearing itself.
“A few years ago the powers that be decided they would try to hold parliamentary select committees in other parts of the country as much as possible,” said a Public Accounts Committee spokesman.
“Although having said that it doesn’t happen that often. Mostly they’re held in Westminster.”
The spokesman could not reveal how much the whole shebang would cost, or whether the committee would be travelling by first class or cramming in with other commuters in standard accommodation.
“All those expenses will appear in the Liaison Committee Report in August,” he explained.
