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The BBC did not “consider the potential wider significance” of the complaint against Huw Edwards when it was logged last May, a review into the disgraced newsreader has said.
The review, published in the past few minutes, makes for uncomfortable reading for the nation’s public broadcaster and its response to the initial complaint made against Edwards. BBC Group Chief Operating Officer Leigh Tavaziva said the broadcaster has apologised to the complainant about the speed in which it was escalated.
The BBC newsreader was revealed to be the subject of a Sun exposé about a ‘BBC presenter’ who had allegedly paid a young person around £30,000 ($38,000) for indecent images, and Director General Tim Davie soon after ordered two reviews into the matter – one on BBC complaints processes, which published today, and the other a ‘factfinding investigation.’
The initial complaint was made in May 2023 but BBC senior leadership was only informed on July 6, the review said, at which point “the internal investigation into claims raised in respect of the presenter was ongoing.”
The review therefore considered that the “potential wider significance” of the complaint about one of the BBC’s most prominent and highly paid on-screen presenters was not recognized by the BBC’s corporate investigations team.
Furthermore, the report said “there was no documented process for contact with the complainant, such that when initial attempts to contact the complainant were unsuccessful, the steps to be taken were not sufficiently clear and the process followed was not documented.”
Deadline revealed last year that BBC News journalists had been examining Edwards’ conduct prior to The Sun’s story, led by his colleague Victoria Derbyshire. Edwards has not worked for the BBC since his wife revealed he was the ‘BBC presenter’ in question, and he is unlikely to return.
“Overarching framework”
Moving forwards, the report said the BBC will implement an “overarching framework” to sensitively deal with complaints including increased governance and the designation of a senior exec-level sponsor.
The BBC will provide “enhanced awareness and training in connection with complaints routes and complaints processes” and review the resource it has to deal with complaints, it added.
The BBC will also increase the governance of its complaints process by consolidating, “designating a senior executive-level sponsor and introducing oversight of the overall complaints process through regular governance meetings.”
The BBC didn’t name Edwards in today’s review but said it had “commissioned a review of the effectiveness of its non-editorial complaints policies and processes, following a complaint about the alleged behaviour of a BBC presenter.”
Director General Davie has previously set out the terms of the review when under scrutiny over Edwards by a parliamentary committee, at which point he revealed he had hired a former Deloitte boss, Simon Cuerden, to oversee the piece of work. The separate ‘factfinding investigation’ into Edwards is yet to publish.
Tavaziva added: “Although our existing processes and systems are, on the whole, working effectively, this review shows that we need to join them up better to ensure no matter how a non-editorial complaint comes into the BBC it is escalated swiftly, when needed, and dealt with by the right people.
“Where the review identifies process improvements we accept those in full, and we are delivering on an action plan with a number of enhancements already in place.”
“The report identifies specific process shortcomings in the presenter case. The initial complaint in this case was not escalated quickly enough to senior management and we have apologised to the complainant for this.”
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