The BBC 's chairman, Lord Patten , has launched a spirited defence of the corporation's independence as ministers criticised an uncertain performance by director general George Entwistle in front of MPs, and police prepared to make their first arrests in the growing scandal over the late TV and radio star Jimmy Savile .
Maria Miller, the culture secretary, spoke to Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust , after watching what was felt to be a less than reassuring performance from Entwistle before the culture, media and sport select committee. She urged him to become more personally involved because "very real concerns are being raised about public trust and confidence in the BBC".
Entwistle was repeatedly unable to give precise figures about the number of allegations of assault, harassment or inappropriate conduct that had been reported to the BBC and his two-hour testimony prompted further questions over the involvement of the BBC's head of news in Newsnight's aborted investigation into Savile last year.
But with the political temperature rising as the Savile crisis moves into its fourth week, Patten wrote back to warn Miller off criticising Entwistle. "I know that you will not want to give any impression that you are questioning the independence of the BBC," the peer said. He added that his trust would keep her in touch with developments as two inquiries into the Savile scandal completed their work over the coming months.
Meanwhile, preparations for the first arrests are well under way as the scandal moves into a new phase. The police inquiry is understood to be examining individuals from different institutions as a result of claims made by alleged victims of sexual abuse who have come forward in the last fortnight.
It is not clear, at this stage, if any of those likely to be arrested have worked for the BBC, but it is understood some suspects at the centre of the criminal investigation did have associations with Savile at the peak of his reign as a BBC celebrity.
However, officers have not established that a paedophile ring existed at any particular institution despite allegations from a lawyer representing victims on the Panorama programme on Monday night.
When Entwistle was pressed by Philip Davies MP to state "how many people employed by the BBC have had sexual harassment allegations made against them" he struggled to answer.
Initially, he said that there were "between five and 10 serious allegations over the whole period in question" but later he refined that to between eight and 10.
A few hours after the meeting, the BBC refined its answer again, saying that there were "nine new allegations of harassment, assault or inappropriate conduct " made against existing staff, rather than over the whole period covered by allegations about Savile. The corporation could not provide a figure as to how many allegations had been made against former stars or employees, and Entwistle told MPs: "What I haven't done is ask the statistical question."
He also told MPs that Helen Boaden, the BBC's head of news, had been made aware of the aborted Newsnight investigation into Savile last November and told Peter Rippon , the editor of the BBC2 programme, that just because Savile had recently died it "didn't mean skimping on the usual journalistic standards".
Journalists at Newsnight at the time said they believed this conversation happened on 28 or 29 November last year just before Rippon suddenly cooled on the idea of the investigation into Savile that they had been working on in the aftermath of his death and that it amounted to an invitation to the Newsnight editor to drop the investigation. A spokesman for Boaden confirmed she had made that remark on or around those dates, but otherwise said that the circumstances around the axing of the film would be examined in the review led by the former head of Sky News Nick Pollard.
In his evidence, Entwistle chose to heavily criticise Rippon a man he had defended earlier in the crisis saying he had made an error in completely aborting the investigation on 1 December of last year.
"I am firmly of the view that the investigation should have been allowed to continue," the director general said of the film. If it had aired in early December, the film would have been the first time the allegations about Savile's sexual abuse of teenage girls would have emerged.
The BBC chief said he was "very disappointed indeed" that the account Rippon had given of the reasons why he dropped the investigation had "turned out to be as inaccurate as it was". Rippon agreed to step aside on full pay on Monday after his account of the Newsnight affair had to be corrected three times. Rippon's lawyers, Davis Price, said they had no comment on Entwistle's evidence.
Entwistle said that he was not involved in the BBC discussions about the Savile film, but said he was warned at a "busy lunch" by Boaden on 2 December that Newsnight was investigating Savile and possible implications for the schedules because Christmas tributes to the late presenter were planned.
Entwistle, then the director of vision, responsible for the BBC's television channels, said he inquired no further, reflecting "a determination not to show an undue interest" in the matter because Newsnight was not part of his division of the organisation.
This phase of his evidence prompted several critical remarks from the MPs present. A committee member, the Conservative MP Damian Collins, said: "You sound a bit like James Murdoch."
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