Just to put this into some kind of context, under Inland Revenue rules, an employer can meet the cost of a Christmas party (or other annual event) at up to £150 per head before the employee could be taxed on the benefit.

The BBC, in a response to an FOI (Freedom of Information) request, decided in 2005 the limit of its contribution to the Christmas bunfights would be £40 per head.

Admirable, the BBC spent £238 per head on the 2005 Christmas do enjoyed by Radio 2 presenters – and the BBC met the full costs of £22,880.

This could be because, having made the £40 rule, Auntie Beeb isn’t able to check it's being stuck to.

The BBC’s Business Manager, Finance, writes: “The BBC’s financial accounting systems are not set up to capture and report spend specifically on Christmas parties and there is no accounting code designated for this purpose. For financial accounting and control purposes spend on Christmas parties is aggregated with other staff entertaining and hospitality.”

However, within the 45 page Financial Statement in the BBC’s Annual Report, among the figures you won’t see listed are the amount spent on entertaining and hospitality, the amount paid out in staff expenses or even the cost of staff salaries.

To be fair, that’s not unusual in big businesses. You won’t find those figures in Google’s annual report (and their parties are the stuff of legends) or any other Blue Chip/Fortune 100 company.

However, the Beeb being a public body, means you can at least ask them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/foi

I can’t help thinking of all those licence-fee paying families and pensioners for who £238 would make the whole of their Christmas very jolly.

Or the hard-working small business people (like my bloke, working 14-hour days to keep his handful of staff in jobs) buying the ads and products that build the profits of big businesses. At this year’s Chrsitmas party, I hope Larry and Sergey raise a glass to the customers that paid for the champagne as well as to the staff helping them party with the profits.