Huw Edwards has not returned salary, BBC says

The BBC's director general has said "discussions are under way" about the possibility of clawing back £200,000 from disgraced news presenter Huw Edwards, but that he has not yet returned the money.

The BBC has asked Edwards to hand back the salary he earned after being arrested last November on child abuse image charges.

Speaking at a House of Lords committee on Tuesday, Tim Davie said: "We've made the formal request and I can't go into too much detail but discussions are under way.

"The money should be returned and we made the request."

Asked by the communications and digital committee's chair Baroness Stowell whether the BBC had set Edwards a deadline, Mr Davie said no.

"But we do expect to make progress and get an answer," he said.

The BBC chief reiterated, following the announcement of the request in August, that the corporation could look into legal avenues to reclaim the money.

"We’ll explore that as I’ve said on record, I think that is challenging."

Edwards, formerly the BBC's most high-profile newsreader, continued to earn his salary for five months after he was arrested on three counts of making indecent images of children.

He was suspended in July 2023 and arrested four months later. He did not resign from the BBC until April.

In July, Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.

The ex-presenter "behaved in bad faith" in continuing to take his salary despite knowing what he had done, BBC chair Samir Shah said in a letter to staff last month.

Speaking to the committee on Tuesday, Mr Shah said there was "nothing more important than public trust in the BBC and we are custodians of that trust".

He added: "What Huw Edwards did damaged the reputation of the BBC.

"It was a shock to find he was charged and had lived this double life. The person who betrayed the trust of the nation was Huw Edwards."

During the committee hearing, Mr Shah also spoke about the BBC's independence, saying the government currently has too much influence over the broadcaster.

He said the corporation's global "reputation has been damaged in recent years" because of the "leverage the government of the day has over the BBC".

Mr Shah said: "We should try to reduce that leverage and make our accountability to do with the public, the licence fee payer.

"I certainly welcome an idea of dialling that up, while we dial down the relationship with the government of the day and the BBC."

Mr Shah said the BBC's 14-strong board includes five non-executive directors - including himself - who were appointed by the government.

"I'm not sure that's the right balance and I think we should think again about it," he said.

His predecessor as BBC chair, Richard Sharp, was a close associate of Boris Johnson, and faced criticism for dealings he had with the then-prime minister before his appointment.

Mr Sharp resigned in 2023 after a report found he had created the appearance of a conflict of interest by not fully disclosing his knowledge of Mr Johnson's personal finances.

Mr Sharp defended his conduct but said he did not want to be a distraction.

Meanwhile, former Downing Street head of communications Sir Robbie Gibb has been accused of attempting to interfere in editorial matters after being appointed to the BBC board in 2021.

Mr Shah also told the committee the government has too much say over the BBC's finances.

"What matters most of all is the independence of the BBC," he said.

"The licence fee has many difficulties as we know but the licence fee has been vulnerable to actions by the government... to impose on the BBC duties that take money away from making content, most egregiously the World Service. We suddenly had to find £300m."

Responsibility for funding the World Service transferred from the government to the BBC a decade ago.

"We need to have a future funding model that means we are independent of that kind of action," Mr Shah said.