Select Committee
Parliament

"I completely deplore" anyone briefing against Carrie Gracie, BBC director general Tony Hall says.

He says that any complaints reported to him would be investigated.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Julian Knight asks if more fundamental reform is needed given the number of people coming forward with grievances.

Lord Hall responds that "we are managing 298 cases at the moment" and says "I take great heart they've come forward and we're working them through our system", noting that they're "mainly women".

"The system is working," he adds.

Select Committee
Parliament

After a short break, the committee is back. The session has now been running for over four hours.

Conservative MP Julian Knight notes that Carrie Gracie is sitting behind the BBC bosses, watching them give evidence.

He invites BBC chairman Sir David Clementi to apologise to her directly.

"We made a number of errors and I apologise to Carrie," Sir David says, turning to face those watching behind.

"Everybody here is sorry," he adds, clarifying that an error was not made when Ms Gracie was appointed China editor at "a slight premium" compared to the other editors but when Jon Sopel was appointed North America editor on much more money.

"I apologise for what she's been through," he insists.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs continue to debate the restoration to the Palace of Westminster motion. Across the House, there is agreement that the current building needs repair, but how to go about it is a highly contentious issue.

Here are the amendments available to MPs to vote on today:

• Amendment A says that MPs will remain in place in the Palace of Westminster or Portcullis House.
• Amendment B calls for any temporary chamber to include electronic voting
• Amendment C calls for MPs remaining in the Palace of Westminster, Portcullis House or Church House

Other amendments have been tabled, including from Meg Hillier, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. She is calling for MPs to vacate the Palace of Westminster entirely to allow the works to be carried out as quickly as possible.

Finally, an SNP amendment calls for a review into Parliament moving into new premises entirely and exploring using the current Parliament building as a tourist attraction.

Select Committee
Parliament

After four hours of evidence, the culture committee is taking a break for five minutes. In the meantime, what's been going on elsewhere in Parliament...?

Select Committee
Parliament

SNP MP Brendan O'Hara asks Anne Bulford why the report of Carrie Gracie's grievance hearing said she had been "inadvertently underpaid" but also that she was "in development".

Ms Gracie said earlier that she had responded furiously to the suggestion that she was "in development" in the role of China editor.

Ms Bulford says Ms Gracie's pay should have been reviewed much earlier and suggests that the grievance report intended to say that the role of China editor was in development.

Head of news Fran Unsworth adds that Ms Gracie was "new to the role of an on-air editor".

She had considerable previous experience but this was a new and different role, Ms Unsworth argues.

Select Committee
Parliament

The SNP's Brendan O'Hara asks if the BBC is blameless in this matter.

Lord Hall says: "I regret we couldn't sort this issue out earlier."

He adds that "I'm a big fan of Carrie" and "there are clearly issues around how she's feeling".

Select Committee
Parliament

The SNP's Brendan O'Hara asks Tony Hall: "Why did it take a report to tell you that problems existed?"

Lord Hall responds that he was taken on to resolve the "crisis" at the BBC in the wake of revelations about Jimmy Savile.

He insists that "you can't take on every issue at once but we knew we wanted a major reform" of pay and grading.

Select Committee
Parliament

In its response to PwC's review, the BBC pledged to do the following:

1. On air, there will be substantial pay cuts for some men; and pay rises for some men and women

2. We will create a new framework for determining the pay of people on air, to match that already created for the rest of BBC staff. It will have narrower pay bands; much simpler contracts and allowances; and clear criteria for how pay reflects skills, experience and audience impact

3. We want to be the most transparent organisation when it comes to pay. When our reforms are complete, everyone will be able to see the pay range for virtually every job in the BBC. Where there are more than 20 people in a job, staff will also be able to see where everyone else is positioned. We will do more to explain the pay of each presenter paid over £150k, especially where they do more than one role

4. We will review the progression of women in the BBC, looking at working practices and support for women returning to work. We want more women to progress more quickly in the BBC

5. We will accelerate progress towards equal representation of men and women at all levels on air, and also towards closing the gender pay gap by 2020. There will be significant moves this year towards this ambition

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

SNP's Brendan O'Hara says Carrie Gracie's evidence to the committee earlier was "powerful and moving" and around "190 women" in the BBC agree with her.

"Are they all wrong?" he asks Tony Hall.

The director general says it's important to consult, debate and discuss the way forward.

He repeats that he admires the stand that Ms Gracie has taken.

Turning to the cases of other female BBC staff, he says he wants to work with them and with unions as "we need to know who they are, we need to understand the case and we need to deal with them".

Select Committee
Parliament

Sir David Clementi says the BBC is more open and transparent than many other organisations and its leaders are committed to public sector broadcasting.

The chairman says the BBC is fortunate to have director general Tony Hall and director of news Fran Unsworth at a "very significant discount on what they might earn" in the private sector.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Jo Stevens asks if any male presenters who've agreed to take pay cuts have been offered compensation. Anne Bulford says they haven't.

She then inquires as to whether there's an old boys' network at the BBC.

Lord Hall answers: "I don't believe there is an old boys' network. I believe in equality of opportunity."

Ms Stevens asks how he got his job, and he says he was approached by Lord Patten and a headhunter.

Select Committee
Parliament

"Are you just hoping that all the men will just volunteer to get less money?" Rebecca Pow asks BBC chairman Sir David Clementi.

Sir David says that when new pay ranges are established, some men will be encouraged "to move down" if required.

If they won't do it voluntarily, "we will wait until their contract ends and they will be red-lined".

"We will act within the law," he insists.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Jo Stevens asks if the BBC's approach now is to wait for highly paid men to take a pay cut.

Head of News Fran Unsworth replies: "No, that's not our strategy."

She says distinctions have to be drawn on the basis of jobs which are in demand, specifying that the China editor "is not on the treadmill that the North America editor is".

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Rebecca Pow says the committee has heard "a great catalogue" of evidence that the BBC is "too patriarchal" and has "belittled and marginalised" some women.

Tony Hall says the "domination of men" in highly paid positions is wrong and the BBC is working to resolve that.

Women now make up 42% of the BBC's senior managers, he says.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Ian Lucas asks Tony Hall bluntly whether he agrees that the BBC "has paid less to women for work of equal value".

The director general says "there may be individual cases" but he does not believe the BBC as an organisation does this - and it would be illegal.

Ms Lucas says the BBC had a legal duty to pay Carrie Gracie "equally for work of equal value" after Jon Sopel was appointed as North America editor.

Lord Hall accepts that there were "management failures" and the BBC wants "very clear criteria" to say why someone might be paid more than someone else.

Lord Hall adds that he used to be worried about pay transparency "from the point of view of competition and people being poached" but now he thinks it is essential to establish trust.

Select Committee
Parliament

Committee chair Damian Collins asks if Tony Hall thinks Carrie Gracie had less value than other editors.

He replies: "I hate putting the word value on someone like Carrie."

He says the BBC needs to show it's differentiating "not by gender but by factors that make that job worth more" and needs to achieve "clarity on that framework".

Select Committee
Parliament

Anne Bulford insists the practice of moving employees off staff contracts referred to earlier by the NUJ does not happen anymore.

"We think it's wrong, we want to reform it," she tells MPs.

Asked if people who suffered losses after they were moved off staff contracts will be compensated, she answers: "The definition of loss needs to be worked through."