Carolyn McCall gives evidence: ITV boss faces MPs' questions over This Morning row

This parliamentary committee meeting has now concluded.

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Quizzed on her salary, Dame Carolyn McCall confirmed her base salary is "under one million pounds a year" and said she believed she deserved to keep her job.

She has also insisted that today's discussion "was about Phillip Schofield and person X" despite the chair's statement that it had been about the culture at ITV.

Dame Caroline Dinenage said they would be keeping a close eye on ITV, and advised not to make any more jokes "about aubergines".

Dame Carolyn McCall said they all feel "deeply sad" over what happened to Caroline Flack.

She also said ITV would never intend to treat staff like commodities.

Kevin Lygo also said the network were still offering her work shortly before her death.

Love Island presenter Caroline died by suicide. There have been a total of four suicides connected to the show.

Asked if ITV is unique in having that many suicides connected to the show, Dame Carolyn McCall listed numerous factors connected to the tragedies and said the situations were "complex".

She added that ITV takes duty of care on Love Island "so seriously" and that they go to "great lengths to protect" participants and staff on the show.

Rebecca Ferguson's claims about the poor treatment of contestants on the X-Factor have been raised.

Kyla Mullins has said there was "nothing for us as the broadcaster to investigate" because a lot of changes had been carried out after her time on the show.

Asked if it was "arrogant to dismiss her concerns" after speaking to independent contractors and refusing to meet with her.

Dame Carolyn McCall hit back at those claims and suggested Rebecca "should have met with Freemantle" over the concerns.

Kyla Mullins said they were "not dismissive" because things had "moved on since then".

SNP's John Nicholson has suggested a commonly-used term at This Morning is 'Towerblock Tracys'.

Asked if that was how This Morning staff regularly described their audience, Dame Carolyn McCall and the other representatives from ITV present denied knowing about the term.

Phillip's lover felt investigations that took place made it "quite difficult" to talk, a close friend of his told the same committee member.

A manager apparently asked him "is everything ok between you and Phillip", which was a question he "felt he couldn't answer with any candor".

One committee member told how he had been in touch with multiple current and former ITV staff members, who told him about their experiences anonymously.

One complaint said that an ITV boss regularly "shouted at and bullied staff".

Another he read out described "daytime in particular as completely toxic".

The current or ITV employee said: "ITV pretends to investigate bullying but decides there is no bullying.

"The person who complains is forced to leave, often with an NDA."

"It's made clear to them they can't return to ITV," the person added.

"How come people are so unhappy and yet you keep doing investigations that end up showing there wasn't a problem?" the committee member added.

Dame Carolyn McCall addressed this by saying there have been two official complaints that have been investigated.

She added that ITV take complaints "very seriously" and said the claims "fill me with sorrow" because it's "the antithesis of what we want".

Dame Carolyn McCall has addressed Martin Frizell's bizarre comment that he "doesn't like aubergine" after being asked by a journalist if there is a bullying culture at This Morning.

She said that it was "ill-advised" and a mistake, but ultimately not a reflection of their organisation.

A committee member said that the comment "said a lot about the culture" at this morning due to its flippant nature.

Dame Carolyn McCall refused to "get into hypotheticals" until the investigation is complete.

She also refused to talk about the "worst she would do" about certain individuals depending on the findings.

Asked if people "could be sacked" over a "cover-up" at ITV, she once again refused to "focus on hypotheticals".

Dame Carolyn McCall was quizzed about the runner's showreel and whether it suggested preferential treatment, which included interviews with Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes.

"People are very encouraging of runners," she said, before agreeing that the opportunity would be open for other runners to be the same.

"As long as it was not getting in the way of the show and we could help people, we would do that."

Asked about Phillip's connection to the man, she also admitted he had "introduced him to ITV".

The runner did his work experience at ITV aged 19 for a couple of weeks and returned to do more work.

"He was an impressive individual, much liked and did a good job," Klya Mullins added.

Dame Carolyn McCall has also said they usually have a "formal" work experience process at ITV, but there is also a process of recommendation from current employees at ITV.

Dame Carolyn McCall said the "pressure on Phil was enormous during brother's case" ahead of his This Morning departure.

Kevin Lygo has said "others asked" to work with the runner, including Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.

He added that he was very well-liked by people at ITV

Dame Carolyn McCall has said ITV would still view Phillip's relationship as inappropriate, even if both parties had admitted to it and confirmed it was consensual.

When pressed, she said they would have "acted swiftly" and would have likely removed Phillip from this morning following the admission.

Eamonn Holmes' tweet that other senior-level people at ITV "knew the sort of man Phillip Schofield is" and did nothing to intervene was met with irritation from Dame Carolyn McCall.

She said "don't look at twitter" before denying Eamonn's claims, saying that speaking more on them would only fan the flames.

"Most people are engaged and motivated at This Morning," Dame Carolyn McCall has said.

She also said the company has had two complaints in five years, including one from Dr Ranj Singh, who spoke about "toxicity" at the network.

She also said that the company had both a "formal complaints procedure" with HR as well as "multiple other routes" for whistleblowing.

"We foster a culture where if anyone has a problem or is concerned about anyone else" they have multiple ways to come forward.

Kyla Mullins has said there is "zero tolerance for bullying or abuse of power" at ITV.

Dame Carolyn McCall has said ITV is "part of British culture and society and life".

Asked by a committee member why this affair is "in the public interest", she said "you will want to know what we've done and why we've done it.

"We want you to know how much we care about the people who work at ITV," she added.

"The vast majority of people at ITV feel looked after and we have many different ways for them to give feedback.

"We do listen and we have so many different ways of listening."

Kevin Lygo has said Phillip "looked me in the eye and promised" rumours of his affair were untrue just days before he admitted to lying to ITV and his agents.

Dame Carolyn McCall has said she is "concerned for Phillip's welfare" and "extremely concerned" for his lover over the "awful intrusion into his life".

She also believes he has been "hounded" over the affair, which has deeply affected his welfare.

Dame Carolyn McCall has said ITV are still in touch with Phillip Schofield and they are paying for his counselling, which he asked for.

She also said they have given Phillip's lover support "as recently as last week".

Kyla Mullins also said that they have continuously given him care and confirmed there is "nothing in place that would stop him speaking out", including any gagging orders.

"We wanted to make it easier for him", Dame Carolyn McCall said of Phillip Schofield's young lover, who was apparently shocked by the intrusion into his personal life.

She also said that ITV interviewed both individuals and other people about the affair each time there was speculation in an "ongoing review".

"Anyone could have at any time said something about this", she said in response to claims that people at ITV knew about the affair.

"We had no evidence," she said, before adding that not investigating the matter would "not have been in our interest".

Kevin Lygo has claimed he spoke to Phillip alone before he came out as gay live on This Morning and asked if there was "anything he wanted to share".

"He absolutely, categorically said 'no'," Kevin confirmed.

Kyla Mullins has stepped forward to give evidence, where she has said Phillip's lover was "traumatised by intrusion into private life".

She has also claimed ITV has records of conversations with the man, where he was asked 12 times about the affair and denied it "categorically" each time.

Dame Carolyn McCall has said "whatever emerges from the enquiry, we will learn from it".

She also addressed claims from multiple ex-ITV workers that many people knew about Phillip's affair.

Dame Carolyn McCall claimed, had there been a formal complaint, they would have conducted an investigation at the time.

She also stated that an "imbalance of power makes the relationship inappropriate".

She also said she became aware of the rumours in 2019.

Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Dame Caroline Dinenage says today's session is "not a witchhunt to investigate" Phillip Schofield.

In her opening statement, she also says they've been "inundated" by messages from people talking about their experiences from ITV.

ITV Chief Executive Dame Carolyn McCall wrote a letter to Parliament last Wednesday revealing the broadcaster had commissioned an external review following the fallout from the This Morning scandal.

Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Dame Caroline Dinenage, who was one of the addressees of Wednesday’s letter, supplied a written response last Thursday.

The response read: “The Committee regards the media industry’s duty of care towards its staff a matter of the highest importance.

“Whilst the recent coverage focuses on the Schofield case, it also raises fundamental issues about safeguarding and complaint handling both at ITV and more widely across the media.

“These issues should, particularly in the case of public service broadcasters, be open to scrutiny. The public must have confidence in the robustness of public service broadcasters’ safeguarding procedures.

“Whilst these are issues that we want to discuss first with ITV, we will also consider them in our regular scrutiny sessions with other public service broadcasters, including the BBC later this month and Channel 4 later in the year.”

In response to Phillip Schofield's statement, an ITV spokesperson said: "We are deeply disappointed by the admissions of deceit made tonight by Phillip Schofield.

"The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust. Phillip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.

"We accept his resignation from ITV and therefore can confirm that he will not be appearing on ITV as had previously been stated."

Meanwhile, the star's agent YMU Group revealed they had also dropped the presenter.

Mary Bekhait, the group CEO of YMU Group, said: "Honesty and integrity are core values for YMU's whole business, defining everything we do,"

"Talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust.

"This week, we have learned important new information about our client Phillip Schofield. These facts contradicted what Phillip had previously told YMU, as well as the external advisors we had brought in to support him.

"As a result, on Thursday we agreed to part company with Phillip, with immediate effect."

On Friday, May 26, Phillip Schofield released a lengthy statement acknowledging his affair with a This Morning employee. Here it is in full:

“I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.

“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.

“When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody ‘forced’ me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.‘In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.

“I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.

“I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.

“To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so. I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.”

Good morning from London. I’m Hannah, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on Dame Carolyn McCall's parliamentary committee meeting. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.