Culture, Media and Sport CommitteeLetter from Lord Hall of Birkenhead, Director-General, BBC to John Whittingdale OBE MP, Chairman, Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Thank you for your letter dated 2nd April, received on the 9th.

BBC News accepted in full the Trust decision on Panorama’s North Korea Undercover programme broadcast on 15 April 2013. Aspects of the BBC’s handling of the project fell short in a number of areas, with the Trust finding against the BBC on 4 of its 21 rulings.

The Trust also took the view which I had set out before your Committee—that there was a clear and strong public interest in commissioning and broadcasting the programme and that the correct referral procedures and processes were followed by the programme team and senior management.

The BBC has apologised to Student X for the finding by the Trust that insufficient information was given to her ahead of the trip about the involvement of the BBC journalists and the potential risks. This meant that Student X did not have sufficient knowledge on which to give informed consent. We have also apologised to the LSE following the Trust’s finding that the programme created the risk of harm to the LSE’s reputation.

The Trust agreed that in view of the breaches, those apologies were the appropriate outcome and did not ask the BBC Executive to take any further action. I thought it would be helpful, however, if I set out for you below what other actions the BBC itself has taken in the light of what happened.

First, though, with regard to the important matter of Parent X’s allegation that I have misled your Committee, may I say categorically that that is not the case. As I made clear to the Committee, from the assessments of risk which the BBC had undertaken—and which the Trust has accepted as appropriate—the most likely outcome, if the trip had been discovered, was for the students to be expelled. In those circumstances, that would be the “best” outcome. This is supported by the evidence offered by the Trust’s Independent Editorial Adviser in quoting from the risk assessment form. The risk assessment also pointed out that “detention could not be ruled out”, but said that it was “unlikely”. It is the job of a proper risk assessment to consider such eventualities and the consequences, even if they are not expected to occur. This is precisely what happened here and does not amount in any way to a discrepancy between my evidence to the committee and the Trust’s conclusions.

With regard to Parent X’s comments about “misstatements by senior BBC Executives”; this was dealt with by the Trust’s report and I have nothing to add.

Turning now to the actions taken: I asked BBC News to take another look at its processes regarding risk assessment. As a result, the editorial procedures to clarify our responsibility to third-parties have been strengthened. High risk forms now require staff to make explicit any duty of care we may have to outside contributors as well as to BBC staff and freelancers. We have also introduced a general third party reputational risk assessment which, for instance, would cover all external institutions, including universities.

The BBC also gave assurances—through Universities UK—to the academic community about any future projects involving undercover journalism. This was in line with the above amendments and my evidence to your committee last year:

(i)Undercover BBC journalists will not [in any normal circumstances] accompany UK universities or other recognised research institutions, on trips abroad without the full consent and co-operation of a member of the senior management team of the university involved.

(ii)BBC journalists will not purport to be university staff without the agreement of a member of the senior management team of the university involved,

(iii)When assessing risk, the BBC will, where relevant, take into account potential risks to universities’ reputations.

With regard to your point about individuals: the Trust made no recommendation for action or sanctions and, as you know, we would not, in any case, comment on any internal staff matters.

14 April 2014