The BBC has boasted of making ‘vast’ cuts to its celebrity wage bill – but still paid stars a total of nearly £188million last year. Its 14 highest-paid presenters, thought to include Graham Norton, Chris Evans and John Humphrys, took home nearly £12million between them, figures show. A further 230 were paid between £100,000 and £500,000. The figures appear in a report commissioned by its governing body, the BBC Trust, which congratulated the corporation on the ‘great’ progress it has made in cutting its celebrity wage bill. Some of the BBC's highest paid presenters, who are thought to include Graham Norton, left, and Chris Evans, right, took home nearly £12million in pay between them . The corporation has reduced the amount it spends on talent by 15 per cent over the past six financial years, and cut its spend on so-called ‘top talent’ – those earning £100,000 a year or more – by 29 per cent. However, it also slashed the number of presenters on screen or radio by around a third over the same period. In the report, seen by the Daily Mail, the BBC congratulated itself on the ‘vast improvements’ it has made since 2008, and the ‘cultural shift’ the BBC has made in allowing itself to lose certain presenters to other channels. It said: ‘There has been a considerable and important internal cultural shift towards greater ownership and scrutiny of talent costs…and a willingness to be more flexible in its approach to talent, including allowing talent to leave where appropriate.’ John Humphrys, left, is thought to another one of the BBC's top earners. The report also highlighted presenters who had left the BBC such as Susanna Reid, right . The report highlighted Jake Humphrey, who moved to BT Vision, and Susanna Reid, the former BBC Breakfast presenter who now co-hosts Good Morning Britain for ITV. But the scale of the salaries the BBC continues to pay out to presenters is unlikely to ease concerns that the BBC is ‘profligate’ with licence fee payers’ money. Last week, the influential Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee slammed the BBC, painting a portrait of an organisation that was inept with public funds, and had blown billions on vanity projects and staff pay-offs. John Whittingdale, chairman of the committee, said last night that the salaries the BBC was awarding talent needed close scrutiny. He explained: ‘The BBC should think long and hard before paying anybody a six-figure-plus salary. It is very hard to justify these sorts of sums. 'If the argument is that [the presenters] would go elsewhere - well, then perhaps the BBC should let them. New BBC Trust chairman Rona Fairhead is to make a speech in Oxford today, where she is expected to reinforce concerns that the BBC wage bill was too high . 'If somebody becomes so successful that they command a very large salary, the BBC is not there to stop them. It is there as an incubator of talent.' The committee's report, Future of the BBC, also called for the abolition of the BBC Trust, saying that the governing body was too close to the Corporation and needed to be replaced with a more rigorous body. A speech by Rona Fairhead, in Oxford today is likely to reinforce some of their concerns. ‘The Trust recognises that the outstanding people on screen and on air are at the heart of the BBC, at the same time we are clear that the BBC has a responsibility to spend money wisely in its approach to talent pay,’ she will say. Mrs Fairhead is also at the centre of another controversy about pay, after it emerged that she received more than £500,000 last year for just 50 days work in non-executive roles at the embattled bank, HSBC.
The BBC has boasted of making 'vast' cuts to its wage bill during last year . But new figures show 14 presenters were paid £12million between them . These are thought to include top names Graham Norton and Chris Evans . Report also highlighted number of presenters who have left the BBC . These include Jake Humphrey and Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid . Comes after a government committee slammed the BBC for being 'inept' with funds .