Bectu responds to BBC Chair resignation

Commenting on today’s report into the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC Chair, and his subsequent resignation, Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said:

“Bectu welcomes Richard Sharp’s resignation but believes that it was long overdue. As a public service broadcaster it is absolutely essential that the country can trust the BBC to carry out its duties and appointments free from any conflict of interest. Mr Sharp has clearly failed to uphold his duty to protect the corporation’s independence and it is entirely right that he has resigned.

“There is no getting around the damage this whole episode has had on the BBC’s reputation, the impact on public faith in the appointments process, and on the BBC workforce. This resignation was all but inevitable and it is disappointing that it took the publication of this report for Mr Sharp to do the decent thing and resign. We have repeatedly outlined how his clinging on and the dragging out of this episode has unnecessarily distracted from the BBC’s remit, operations and duties.

“Bectu members do incredible work every day to make the BBC a respected public service broadcaster and are held to stringent impartiality rules. Our focus today is on BBC staff at what we know is an incredibly challenging time, and we are here to support our members as ever.”