This Morning hit with more allegations of toxic culture following Phillip Schofield's exit
A "large number" of ITV employees have made claims about a toxic working culture on the broadcaster's daytime shows including This Morning, an MP has said.
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More current and former ITV staff members have raised concerns over toxicity, bullying, discrimination and harassment on This Morning since the Phillip Schofield scandal, the committee reviewing it has said.
A letter from Committee Chair Caroline Dinenage to ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said “a large number of individuals” have been in touch since ITV bosses were questioned by MPs in June.
The letter, which was sent late last month, says employees "speak with pride" about working at ITV and are "hugely positive", but “they also raise claims of toxic working cultures, bullying, discrimination and harassment”.
Dame Dinenage also raised questions about the number of complaints ITV had said it received. In the June hearing, Dame McCall said ITV had received two complaints about This Morning in five years.
However, the MP wrote that the committee had subsequently been contacted by other former and current employees who said they were "personally aware of multiple cases".
Dinenage added that this "appears to contradict your evidence that there have been only two complaints".
She continued in the letter seen by Deadline: “We are concerned that repeatedly relying on claims of only two complaints in five years on This Morning, rather than engaging substantively with other evidence received, together with a potential reluctance of individuals to come forward, risks ITV being unwilling or unable to examine whether there are cultural issues within This Morning, ITV Daytime and the wider organisation that are not being dealt with.”
In response, McCall asked the committee to continue to encourage individuals with concerns to contact ITV using its reporting line SafeCall, which she said could take reports confidentially or anonymously.
She also said individuals with concerns could contact Jane Mulcahy KC, the barrister leading an independent review into how ITV handled the Schofield scandal. This is expected to be completed in September.
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McCall added that she was "surprised" to learn Dinenage's letter would be published “given our own concerns about the welfare of our staff”.
She wrote in a letter seen by Express Online: "As we made clear to you and the committee, we are absolutely committed to enabling people to raise any issues or complaints they may have about working at ITV.
"We always take these seriously and will investigate and take whatever action is appropriate.
"However, we are unable to do so if we cannot engage with those people... We have of course co-operated in every way and been clear that complaints are taken seriously."
Express.co.uk has contacted ITV for comment.
