BBC pauses civil servant secondment scheme following impartiality concerns

The BBC has paused a secondment programme that brought government statisticians into its fact checking service, BBC Verify, pending an internal review of their roles. The Daily Mail reported that civil servants currently on secondment will not participate in publishing news or content while the review takes place. [1]

Since 2018, the broadacaster has provided six month secondments for up to two civil servant statisticians to work alongside the head of statistics at BBC News. According to the Daily Mail, recruitment for the next planned round of secondments in 2027 has also been affected by the review. [1]

The staff members involved in the scheme worked with BBC Verify on checking facts related to topics such as small boat migrants and COVID-19. COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that resulted in a global pandemic beginning in early 2020. [1][2]

The decision to pause the placements follows an impartiality dispute over sending government staff into the newsroom to draft and check stories. The BBC has not yet announced when the review of the secondment programme will conclude. [1]