AS the BBC prepares to cut the jobs of thousands of staff, the spotlight has been thrown on a hard core of bureaucrats who have continued to thrive.

They are engaged in activities such as lobbying politicians, assessing programme proposals for ethnic diversity and calculating the carbon dioxide production of broadcasts.

Cuts devised by Mark Thompson, the director-general, intended to save £320m a year, have focused attention on these “non-jobs” funded by increases in the licence fee.

Although about half of the 3,800 jobs to be cut are in administrative roles, senior programme makers complain that the BBC is still spending too much money that does not go on the screen.

One department, for corporate social responsibility, publishes the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each hour of radio and television broadcasts. In its latest report it boasted of a year-on-year reduction of 17% to 0.378 tonnes.

For extra accuracy, it appointed the Corporate Citizenship Consultancy, a specialist adviser, to “assess its performance against available benchmarks”.

Another department has been responsible since January 2003 for measuring the proposed casting of actors on all new programme proposals “against the BBC’s commitment to reflect fully the diversity of the licence-paying public”.

The government sets the value of the licence fee — currently £126.50 a year — and the BBC’s spending on lobbying reflects the importance it places on the relationship.

The BBC has budgeted £8.08m for its charter review project, for work relating to the renewal of the corporation’s royal charter, from February 2003 to March 2006, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Its parliamentary affairs department has, separately, spent £5.03m from 2001-5 on “corporate issues with parliament and politicians”.

One of the departments that is facing the most swingeing cuts is BBC People, which deals with human resources and training, and is expected to lose 460 of its 1,000 staff. Its director, Stephen Dando, received a salary of £231,000 last year — more than the cabinet secretary, Britain’s most senior civil servant. Dando also received a £61,000 bonus.

This weekend the BBC was unable to predict the cost of the planned redundancy programme. However, documents show it spent £145m on redundancies from 2000-4. A total of 111 people received packages worth more than £100,000 each over the past three years.

Among posts still being advertised by the BBC last week was a vacancy for a £65,000-a-year “change manager” to “design, deliver and promote new approaches to management”. Other recent appointments include “business manager (meetings)”.

Supporters of Thompson’s cuts maintain that the corporation grew “flabby” under Greg Dyke, the previous director-general, fuelled by extra licence revenue intended to fund the changeover to digital. They say the events surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly and the subsequent inquiry by Lord Hutton meant that BBC management was distracted from saving £155m a year by 2006-7, devised under Dyke’s long-term business plan. Dyke garnered approving headlines for promising to cut expenditure on free croissants and on taxis.

However, during his last year as director-general, 2003-4, the corporation spent £14.2m on taxis, and insiders say free croissants are again available. There was also criticism this year when the BBC paid £60,000 for a Tracey Emin sculpture of a bird on a pole.

Thompson is expected to curb the leadership courses held at the Ashridge country estate, Hertfordshire, which cost £5,000 a head. Dyke wanted to send almost 7,000 staff on the courses despite warnings to BBC governors from a consultant hired by the corporation that it would be a “misuse of the licence fee”. Other training costs include £3m a year for the BBC’s Upfront scheme, a four-day induction for all new staff.

Last week BBC negotiators persuaded union leaders to call off a 48-hour strike planned for this week in exchange for promising to delay compulsory redundancies for a year.

The 24-hour stoppage last Monday was given mixed support by some of the BBC’s most famous faces. TV presenters Jeremy Paxman, Natasha Kaplinsky and Fiona Bruce all joined the strike but radio stars Terry Wogan and Chris Moyles were among those who crossed picket lines.

Thompson is leading by example as he seeks to persuade the unions to accept a new era of austerity. While other members of the BBC’s executive committee spent £323,401 on chauffeur-driven cars, he dispenses with a driver when possible. On his daily commute to London from Oxford, he cycles to the station to catch his train.

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