Baroness Hardin goes on to ask Davie about previous comments he made about the BBC becoming a digitally led organisation.

"We don't look backwards as public service broadcasters," he replies.

He acknowledges the delicate balance between pushing forward technologically, and making sure that some parts of the audience are not alienated.

"This is such a difficult game, in terms of how we ensure we're bringing people along," Davie says.

He adds he is making efforts to "repurpose an organisation whose funding has been cut by 30% in the previous decade, and now another £400m based on inflation".

"So we have big questions on how you do that, on limited funding, and I think we're actually pulling it off."

He adds audiences are moving more towards on-demand consumption habits. "I want to make sure the BBC isn't confusing its purpose with the means of delivery," he says.

We're hearing again from acting chair of the BBC Board Dame Elan Closs Stephens, who says it is "very very important to distinguish between the purposes of the BBC as enshrined in the charter, and a re-invention of the model to meet the times".

She says the BBC has just celebrated 100 years and that's largely because it has been able to re-invent itself for each generation.

The corporation's acting chair says it is time to look at the kind of iPlayer offer the BBC puts forward, which "should be far more sophisticated, far more part of this new age".

Dame Elan says unlike streaming providers, the BBC "cannot leave people behind".

"It's a little bit like the high street banks, if you like, you've got to keep one branch open and you've also got to have an online offer," she adds

"We have some big decisions to make about the future of the BBC," Davie goes on.

He says that in the next six months to a year the BBC will come out with some work and communication on its forward-looking strategy.

He notes his concern over the future of the BBC in a world where "there's increased disinformation and [where] 70% of the world does not have a free press".

"I think there's a real battle now for an organisation that has no agenda but telling the truth," Davie adds.

"It's not the easiest decision, but it's been the right one to keep the BBC impartial," he adds, despite "all the noise" around the corporation in the last few weeks.

He also talks about promoting home-grown talent and spreading the BBC across postcodes.

"We are unique in bringing people together through our funding, rather than chasing money," Davie concludes.

The committee puts it to Tim Davie that he pledged a detailed strategic review of the BBC nine months ago.

"The question is utterly fair and I realise there is a smidgen of frustration in the room in terms of where we are on that," he replies.

"As a quick overview, I think it is important that we see the funding sitting underneath that bigger question, which is, what is the BBC's role?

He adds: "As the world is moving so fast, I don't think there's a problem with the mission and the purposes [of the BBC], but I do think we need to clearly articulate what our role is as this world is changing so fast, and then you have questions of funding.

"We've already started some work on the funding question, we're also absolutely supportive of the government doing their work on our funding, and we're encouraging that."

His comments follow a report in the Times on Tuesday, external that government ministers are expected to formally announce a review of its funding model in the autumn.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston is now focusing her questions on the topic of BBC future funding, which is the main reason why the corporation's top brass were invited to the committee today.

Today's session comes one year after the committee published a report on BBC's future funding, external, in which it made specific recommendations to the BBC.

Tory peer Baroness Harding of Winscombe asks director general Tim Davie to update the committee on the corporation's strategic review into its funding structure.

Stowell now asks how allegations against well known presenters are handled.

"The history of this industry is such that we should all be concerned," Davie says, adding that the BBC needs to be "appropriately diligent about abuse of people in powerful positions."

He says the the BBC has done well with having a really clear code of conduct for such matters

"We have a good process [for handling internal complaints]," Davie adds, noting the establishment of a whistleblowing process.

"We've got most people very confident on it, there's still gaps in that," he adds, which he said is normally when introducing these processes.

Director general Tim Davie confirms to the committee's chair that the BBC has been in contact with the complainant in the Huw Edwards case.

But, he says, he "can only go so far" in discussing details of the situation due to concerns about privacy.

Davie says the BBC gets "hundreds of thousands" of complaints on issues such as scheduling. He gives the example of Wimbledon, which recently disrupted TV schedules.

In addition to those, Davie says the BBC also receives allegations which are serious in nature, as it did in this case.

"If they [the complainants] have something they have a concern around which clearly needs to be looked at, that gets passed to our corporate investigations team," he explains.

"We had a duty to act with some calm and rationality in the face of a lack of rationality and a lack of calm," Dame Elan says.

The acting BBC chair says the board was under "huge pressure" to disclose the name of someone they had a duty of care and a duty of responsibility towards - as well as the young person involved and their family.

In addition to this, she says there were many questions that could not be answered at the time.

The committee's chair, Baroness Stowell, returns to acting BBC chair Dame Elan.

Stowell notes it was reassuring to know the BBC board met the weekend before last amid mounting allegations against the then-unnamed presenter.

She asks if in hindsight if it would have been "helpful to be able to show the public" what the board was doing at the time in terms of accountability.

Dame Elan says she invited around 40 journalists to a Zoom meeting, during which she told them what was happening during those senior meetings

"Unfortunately, not a single paper reported on that," she said, saying they were "so interested in the eye of the storm that none of them talked about the kind of accountability I had been talking about."

She said she spoke to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who Dame Elan said had a right to give an opinion on the handling of the affair.

"But an opinion is not a directive," she adds, saying the independence of the BBC is its bedrock.

BBC accting chair Dame Elan Closs Stephens says she was informed immediately by director general Tim Davie when the Sun began asking questions about Huw Edwards.

This would have been on Thursday 6 July, the day before the Sun broke its first story involving allegations about an unnamed (at that point) BBC presenter.

Dame Elan says the BBC board then met on the Saturday (8 July). She says the board has been "taking an overview" of the situation.

She adds that a letter she wrote to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has already been shared with the committee's chair and the broadcast regulator Ofcom.

Dame Elan tells the committee the plan of action is that the chief operating officer takes charge of this investigation along with a Deloitte senior partner, Simon Cuerden, who has "extensive experience" in this field.

The full terms of reference will be before board on Thursday and published this week, with an inquiry getting under way as soon as possible.

BBC director general Tim Davie is being questioned by Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the chair of the Lords Communications and Digital Committee.

Davie says the BBC is looking at the learnings from the case and at understanding whether protocols and procedures need to be updated.

Davie says he has asked for "the review of protocols and procedures, including the learnings of this case, and go through that process of understanding what we need to do".

He says this will be led by the chief operating officer and external expertise will be involved as well.

Asked about timing, Davie says he expects the group will be in a position to report back in autumn.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston, chair of the communications committee, opens proceedings by asking about recent events and the latest controversy surrounding the BBC.

She said the one-off session with the BBC today had not been scheduled in light of a particular event, but had been arranged weeks before, in an apparent nod to the Huw Edwards scandal.

She asks director general Tim Davie for an update on work announced last week.

Davie says this has been a "difficult" affair which the BBC has "tried to calmly navigate".

On the first fact-finding investigation into allegations against Edwards, he says the corporation is in the process of looking at those facts.

He tells the committee it is "difficult to give a precise timeline" over the proceedings and the publication of findings.

There are four key areas of questioning the BBC bosses will face today.

First up is governance. The Lords committee says it will address concerns raised by "recent events” about the adequacy of the BBC’s governance arrangements - and how it is addressing these.

Questions will then turn to the BBC’s independence from the government - and the work of the chair and board in ensuring this separation.

Future planning is also on the agenda. The committee will scrutinise the BBC’s progress in producing a “long-term vision to tackle strategic challenges".

Peers will also ask about proposals for an alternative funding model - instead of the licence fee - which they had previously called for.

Last up is audience. The committee says it will quiz the three witnesses on how the BBC’s commitment to impartiality needs to keep pace with changing expectations in society.

They will also face questions over how the BBC is addressing concerns that it needs to do more to serve all sectors of UK society, including low-income households.

The House of Lords Communications Committee is seated and about to start taking evidence from three BBC chiefs, including director general Tim Davie.

You can watch the session by clicking the Play button at the top of this page.

Image source, UK Parliament/PA

Possibly the most familiar face coming up against the Lords Communications Committee today is BBC director general Tim Davie.

Following a career in marketing, Davie succeeded Lord Hall of Birkenhead in the role on 1 September 2020.

He had some experience of the job prior to that appointment, however, having stepped in as acting director general for five months in 2012, after George Entwistle resigned.

While acting editor, he steered the BBC through the investigations that followed revelations that the corporation had been aware of the Jimmy Savile’s record of sexual abuse.

His most recent appearance saw him speak on Radio 4 about recent allegations made against BBC presenter Huw Edwards.

Davie said the claims were very damaging to the BBC and that he wanted to re-examine how serious complaints are "red flagged through the organisation".

Image source, PA Media

Fresh in our minds is the BBC presenter scandal that rocked the corporation last week.

Days of speculation were brought to an end last Wednesday when Huw Edwards’s wife named him as the presenter at the centre of allegations.

The Sun newspaper first reported that the presenter was alleged to have paid a young person for sexually explicit photos. Other people have since alleged inappropriate contact.

You can read our full timeline of events here.

Helena Wilkinson
BBC News

The role of the House of Lords Select Committees is to scrutinise and investigate government and public policy, proposed laws and other areas of public life.

It’ll be members from the Communications and Digital Committee who will be putting questions to the BBC’s director general shortly.

Their brief is to investigate public policy areas related to the media, digital, communications and the creative industries.

During the committee hearing members will put questions to those who’ve been called as witnesses. The meetings are public so anyone can watch.

After the meeting, members normally go on to publish reports on their findings and make recommendations to government.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment and arts reporter

The Huw Edwards saga is far from the only subject that will be raised by the House of Lords committee, which includes Davie’s predecessor Tony Hall.

Davie and Dame Elan Closs Stephens are likely to be asked about the future of the licence fee – which has been in the news in recent days, external – plus the BBC’s independence in light of the furore over former chairman Richard Sharp’s links to ex-PM Boris Johnson, and impartiality after the Gary Lineker tweet controversy earlier this year.

Lineker’s salary could also be a talking point after the BBC's latest annual report was published last week, which showed how much it pays some of its biggest stars.

The Match of the Day host topped the list for the sixth consecutive year, with Zoe Ball and Alan Shearer also among the corporation’s biggest earners.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment and arts reporter

Image source, PA Media

As we've mentioned, this is the first time director general Tim Davie and acting BBC chair Dame Elan Closs Stephens have spoken in public since Huw Edwards was revealed as the high-profile presenter facing a series of allegations about his behaviour.

Questions remain about the adequacy of the BBC’s response when a family first approached it with claims in May, and whether the corporation's own coverage was proportionate once the Sun eventually published allegations.

Davie may also be asked about the BBC’s ongoing internal investigation, his contact with Edwards, and what the future may hold for the corporation’s best-paid journalist.

The director general did address some of that last week – before we knew Edwards’ identity – and promised to "immediately" review how quickly "red flags" are raised internally after such complaints.

• Read more: Questions for Sun and BBC over Huw Edwards story

Marita Moloney
Live reporter

Hello and thanks for joining our live coverage of the House of Lords Communications Committee session, where BBC bosses are due to give evidence on the corporation’s leadership.

It will be the first time the BBC’s director general Tim Davie, acting chair Dame Elan Closs Stephens and policy director Clare Sumner CBE have spoken publicly since Huw Edwards was named as the BBC presenter at the centre of allegations about his behaviour.

Questions remain for the BBC over its handling of the claims made against Edwards and the adequacy of its governance arrangements.

I'm here with Rob Corp, Emily Atkinson, Malu Cursino and Krystyna Gajda in New Broadcasting House, and we'll be bringing you key lines and reaction from the committee when it starts at 14:30 BST.

You can also watch it live by clicking the Play button at the top of this page.