After Phillip Schofield's departure from ITV following an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger former colleague, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall, managing director Kevin Lygo and general counsel Kyla Mullins have given evidence to MPs.
Wednesday 14 June 2023 15:09, UK
That's it from our live reporting of today's hearing.
Thanks for following our coverage - you can read our report on today's session here.
During an intense session lasting for more than two hours, ITV bosses were quizzed about Phillip Schofield's affair with a junior colleague, and what senior management knew.
They also responded to allegations of toxicity, as well as questioning about other issues such as the suicide of Love Island presenter Caroline Flack, and allegations about "abuse" on The X Factor made by contestant Rebecca Ferguson.
Dame Carolyn McCall, the broadcaster's chief executive, faced questions alongside managing director Kevin Lygo and general counsel Kyla Mullins, during a culture, media and sport committee session.
Here are the key points:
Analysis by Katie Spencer, arts and entertainment correspondent
Being the big boss Dame Carolyn McCall has had to steer ITV through a sizeable chunk of off-screen drama - from Piers Morgan quitting and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host Jeremy Clarkson's controversial columns, to Jeremy Kyle and Love Island's post-show care.
She is no stranger to helping the channel ride out the headlines, and - subject to more than two hours of questioning from MPs - she claimed she welcomed the opportunity to "set out some of the facts" of what's been happening at ITV.
She has needed to.
ITV bosses tried persistently, she claimed, to get to the bottom of the circumstances of what was going on between former This Morning star Phillip Schofield and a young runner. The broadcaster's argument effectively boiled down to: how can you properly investigate with no concrete evidence?
Schofield's fragile mental state surrounding his coming out as gay was also cited as a reason they felt they had to tread carefully. There was a focus on welfare, which is no doubt a key concern, and particularly in recent years after the death of Love Island presenter Caroline Flack.
Accusations that the runner in question had been made to sign a non-disclosure agreement were dismissed, while a "pay-off" that has been speculated about was explained as a standard redundancy payment after the COVID pandemic.
Is there a toxic working environment at This Morning? The bosses insisted no, and presented a rosy picture of how staff, when surveyed, gave glowing assessments of their employer.
Whistleblowing numbers were widely displayed in staff toilets, they said, and in lifts, and every effort is made to make sure staff feel comfortable enough to express their concerns.
Professional boundaries were crossed, the power balance was "inappropriate", Dame Carolyn admitted.
But her shocked reaction to claims brought up that viewers, on occasion, were referred to as "Tower Block Traceys" in production meetings was indicative of the fact that while she is across policy on a corporate level, management are unlikely to be aware of what's being said further down the food chain.
And clearly there is a disconnect there.
During today's evidence session, ITV bosses answered questions about what they knew of Phillip Schofield's affair with a younger male colleague, referred to as Person X.
Here is ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall giving evidence on the claims.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the culture, media and sport committee, concludes by saying today has not been about Phillip Schofield and Person X, it has been about ITV as an employer and an institution.
She says she hopes the answers given today "provide some form of reassurance" to people working for ITV and those who have previously left.
Dame Caroline says there is "clearly" work for ITV to do to rebuild trust to ensure it is a "safe and welcoming workplace".
She adds: "We want to be confident that ITV is not letting star power and favouritism damage the lives and careers of people working there, and more importantly we want to be confident that where mistakes have been made ITV will be making changes rather than making jokes about aubergines."
For context, you can read about what Dame Caroline is referring to here below.
ITV's chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall finishes by saying the broadcaster is taking every allegation about its culture seriously but that it would be "very wrong" to depict the broadcaster as having an issue on this.
Stick with us for our recap on today's events.
Culture, media and sport committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage now turns to former Love Island host Caroline Flack, who took her own life in 2020 after stepping down from the show a few months earlier.
"What would you say to the family of Caroline Flack who have stated that ITV used its talent like commodities?" she asks.
Dame Carolyn says they all feel "deeply, deeply sad" about Flack's death.
"People knew her well at ITV," she says, and "really liked working with her".
She continues: "The family are obviously grieving. I would say we never feel that we would treat anybody... whether it's a presenter or a member of staff or a junior person on work experience, we would really not want to treat anyone like a commodity."
Kevin Lygo says because of things going on in Flack's private life at the time, it was the presenter who said she wasn't able to host the upcoming series of Love Island.
He says bosses made it clear that it "was her show" and that she could "come back when she wanted to because she hadn't done anything wrong in our eyes".
Dame Caroline asks if ITV is "completely unique in the UK" in having a show linked with suicides that is still running on the channel.
Dame Carolyn says this is a "gross misrepresentation" and that Flack as host and not a contestant was "going through some extremely public things in her private life".
There are two suicides of former contestants, she says, which are "deeply tragic".
She says the causes of these tragedies are "always complex" and there will have been other events after their appearances on the show that may have contributed.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the culture, media and sport committee, is now asking about other programmes, and wants to know how ITV responds to allegations made by singer Rebecca Ferguson regarding treatment of contestants on The X Factor.
Dame Carolyn, ITV's chief executive, says the allegations go back to 2010-2011 and the broadcaster takes them "seriously".
She says there is another company involved in making The X Factor and Kevin Lygo, the channel's director of TV, says there still would have been a duty of care.
Dame Carolyn says duty of care requirements for third-party producers has increased "significantly" since 2018-2019.
ITV's general counsel Kyla Mullins tells the hearing that Ferguson raised issues in 2021 and the legal team immediately got in touch with Fremantle, the producers.
The key message was that there "needed to be a different approach to how the music industry deals with young people entering record contracts", she says.
On almost every point raised by Ferguson, there was confirmation that things had "moved on quite significantly" and there had been change, Ms Mullins adds, and a further investigation was not appropriate.
You can read more about Ferguson's claims below.
The ITV bosses are now asked if they can confirm whether or not production staff on This Morning referred to their audience as "Tower Block Traceys".
SNP MP John Nicolson says he has been told this, but Kevin Lygo and Dame Carolyn McCall say they have never heard this phrase and would not use it.
They are asked whether, if an idea was "too highbrow" for the show, was it questioned: "Would that appeal to Tower Block Traceys?"
Dame Carolyn says one thing she can say is that the daytime team "really cares about the audience".
How many people approached senior management with concerns about presenters or the culture at This Morning, Kevin Lygo is now asked.
"I don't think any that I can recall," he says.
SNP MP John Nicolson says he has a copy of an email from ITV to a complainant about Mr Lygo and a meeting in October 2021, about concerns raised about Phillip Schofield's conduct involving another colleague working on This Morning.
The email said they could find "no evidence to suggest" that Mr Lygo failed to take action.
Mr Lygo says he will need to check this.
Mr Nicolson again refers to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and says that while Person X might not have signed one of these, he was "given a pay-off".
Ms Mullins says it was not a pay-off but that his role was made redundant, and as a fixed-term contractor he would have been treated the same way as staff members.
She says the settlement agreement and the payment were standard for a redundancy.
The ITV bosses are now being asked whether the younger man Phillip Schofield had an affair with felt "pressure" not to talk about their relationship.
Dame Carolyn McCall says ITV did not put him under pressure, and that Schofield putting him under pressure is "very different" to the broadcaster doing so.
She is then asked about Person X's move to Loose Women.
Dame Carolyn says he applied for this job. "He was extremely capable, a very confident young person... he impressed people".
The suggestion is then put to the ITV executives that he did not want to move from This Morning to Loose Women but was forced to.
Both Dame Carolyn and ITV's general counsel Kyla Mullins say there is no evidence of this.
"This was a promotion," Ms Mullins says.
It is put to the hearing that some people have said it was an "open secret" that the two men were having a relationship.
The ITV bosses are asked if Schofield's previous connection with Person X was checked when he was hired.
Ms Mullins says there were "no alarm bells" and that they would have many similar applications listing someone at ITV as a family friend.
