Sir Jimmy Savile (BBC Inquiry)

Rob Wilson Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the BBC inquiry into the allegations against the late Sir Jimmy Savile.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Maria Miller)]

The allegations emerging around Jimmy Savile are absolutely horrifying. My thoughts are with those affected and their families who have suffered in silence for decades. I believe that it is absolutely right that the BBC asked the police first and foremost to investigate these allegations, and that it has waited to act, on the advice of the police, before launching its own inquiries. It is essential that the police inquiry is not disrupted.

The BBC is a globally admired British institution and has a unique place in our cultural life. As such, it is imperative that it behaves in a manner that makes it worthy of the public’s ongoing trust and confidence. Both the Prime Minister and I said last week that we believed that the BBC should investigate these very serious allegations. The BBC Trust is there to represent the interests of licence fee payers: it must investigate these matters and rectify them, too.

Following the board meeting on Friday, I called both the director-general and the chair of the BBC Trust to underline how vital it is to have clear terms of reference in place and for there to be an announcement of who will chair the inquiries as soon as possible. From those conversations, I am now confident that both the BBC and the BBC Trust are taking these allegations very seriously indeed.

As the House will be aware, the BBC has launched three separate investigations. The first will look into the allegations with regard to the item on Savile which was inappropriately pulled from “Newsnight”. The second review, to be undertaken when the police advise it is appropriate to do so, will focus on Jimmy Savile himself. Thirdly, although the BBC’s child protection policy was overhauled in 2002, the review will also focus on whether its policy is fit for purpose and what lessons can be learned. This review will be assisted by an independent expert. An additional piece of work will look at the very troubling allegations of sexual harassment at the BBC that have come to light in recent weeks. The director-general will give further details later in the week. These are undoubtedly very serious matters, which have wide-ranging implications for a number of public institutions—not just the BBC. It is now crucial that we understand what went wrong and how it can be put right.

[Mr Wilson]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer.

Other institutions besides the BBC—including hospitals, children’s homes, the Crown Prosecution Service and even the police—appear to have serious questions to answer, and I am pushing for answers on those, too, but the BBC currently faces more questions than others because many of the alleged acts of sexual abuse and paedophilia happened on BBC premises and Savile was a BBC employee. While many of these questions relate to the past, there are very serious questions about the actions of the BBC in the present. Any hint of a cover-up by the BBC of its own role in this dreadful affair will cause huge damage to public and audience trust. We do not have an explanation of why the BBC scrapped the “Newsnight” investigation entirely rather than give it more time to develop its work, or of why the BBC did not pass on to police at the time new claims it had obtained about Savile and two other living celebrities who are still at large having allegedly abused under-age girls on BBC premises?

I have a number of major concerns that the inquiries announced by the BBC will not be sufficiently independent, transparent or robust to give the public confidence. I shall write to Dame Fiona Reynolds this afternoon to set out those concerns in detail. In the light of these concerns, I ask whether my right hon. Friend is concerned that the BBC has been slow to react to the growing scandal, and that by dragging its feet on the need for a proper independent inquiry on its own conduct, it has appeared as though it does not want to get to the bottom of this matter. Does she think the BBC’s arrangements for two inquiries are sufficiently independent, transparent and comprehensive? Does she think that a separate, rapid inquiry into the cancellation of the “Newsnight” story is justified? In view of the wider questions about the role of other institutions, does she think that a wider public inquiry into the whole affair would be justified? Finally, is my right hon. Friend concerned that the BBC Trust has acted more as a cheerleader and defender of the BBC than as a critical guardian of standards? Does she think the current relationship is fit for purpose?

[Maria Miller]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to cover some of the issues that he has raised. I spoke to both the director-general and the chairman of the BBC Trust after the board meeting on Friday, and I feel that they are taking these matters extremely seriously indeed. I would underline that point to my hon. Friend. Ultimately, it is for the BBC Trust to have the confidence of the licence fee payer and the comfort confidence of the British public. It is therefore vital for all the inquiries to be undertaken in a transparent and independent manner, and I think that the involvement of Dame Fiona Reynolds as the trust’s senior independent director designate will reassure us in that regard.

As for the role of a wider inquiry, my hon. Friend should bear in mind that a police investigation is currently taking place. I think everyone would agree that it is important for the individuals who have been victims to know that that investigation can proceed unfettered, and that that should be our priority at this stage.