'BBC must open up over its spending'

The BBC must be less secretive about the way it spends public money, a powerful committee of MPs said today.

It must stop "picking and choosing" the areas of its financial affairs which are opened up to independent scrutiny, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found.

The committee has published the first of six major probes into BBC spending. The initial report examines the BBC's investment in its digital Freeview service - on which it plans to spend up to ?138 million of licence-fee money in the next nine years.

The MPs praise Freeview as a success, but call on the Government to force the BBC to open more of its financial affairs to scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

Under an agreement struck in 2003, the BBC agreed to external audit, but only for topics submitted by its management, including Freeview, the funding for its new White City buildings and its overhead expenditure. PAC chairman Sir Edward Leigh said the Comptroller and Auditor General "must be given a free hand in selecting subjects for scrutiny".