Despite calls from Labour and some Tory backbenchers, ministers continue to resist launching full independent inquiry
The government has appointed a barrister to oversee four separate investigations into Jimmy Savile's behaviour at the hospitals where he worked as a volunteer, while continuing to resist calls for a full independent inquiry into the scandal.
Kate Lampard, the former deputy chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service, will offer "independent oversight" of the investigations currently ongoing into alleged abuse by Savile at Stoke Mandeville hospital, Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital, the prime minister's spokesman said, as well as an internal investigation at the Department of Health into its own conduct during the decades when it had direct responsibility for the running of Broadmoor.
But despite calls from Labour and some Conservative backbenchers, ministers have stopped short of ordering an independent inquiry into the entire Savile affair, including his behaviour at the BBC.
"Nothing has been ruled out. But it is right in the first instance that each organisation that has responsibilities fully investigates these allegations and revelations," a spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said on Wednesday.
Two additional formal inquiries are currently ongoing at the BBC![ext]()
. The first, into the circumstances that led to the shelving of a Newsnight report into allegations against Savile, will be led by the former head of Sky News, Nick Pollard. Dame Janet Smith, the former high court judge who conducted the inquiry into the serial killer Harold Shipman, will look at the BBC's handling of material that might have been of interest to the police during the years that Savile worked at the corporation. The BBC will also look at wider allegations that a culture of harassment of women and girls was tolerated at the time.
A police operation, led by the Metropolitan police but involving at least 14 other forces around the country, is also ongoing.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has led the calls for a single over-arching inquiry, saying: "In order to do right by the victims I don't think the BBC can lead their own inquiry. We need a broad look at all the public institutions involved - the BBC, parts of the NHS and Broadmoor. This has got to be independent."
But the culture secretary, Maria Miller, dismissed the calls in the House of Commons, saying she was confident that the BBC chiefs were taking the claims "very seriously".
"In terms of a wider inquiry, we have a police investigation ongoing at the moment," she said. "Everybody would agree that it is really important that those individuals who have been victims know that that investigation can go on unfettered and that should be our priority at this stage."
The Metropolitan police said last week it had identified around 60 possible victims of the late DJ, over a period of abuse spanning up to six decades.
The Department of Health is looking into its own conduct in the four decades to 2001, when Broadmoor was transferred from direct government control to West London Mental Health Trust. In 1988, the then health secretary Ken Clarke appointed Savile to chair a task force overseeing the hospital after its management board was dismissed, the Guardian revealed![ext]()
. A number of Savile's alleged victims are preparing civil claims against Stoke Mandeville and the BBC, and lawyers have claimed the government could also be sued directly on the grounds of vicarious liability.
Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.
The government has appointed a barrister to oversee four separate investigations into Jimmy Savile's behaviour at the hospitals where he worked as a volunteer, while continuing to resist calls for a full independent inquiry into the scandal.
Kate Lampard, the former deputy chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service, will offer "independent oversight" of the investigations currently ongoing into alleged abuse by Savile at Stoke Mandeville hospital, Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital, the prime minister's spokesman said, as well as an internal investigation at the Department of Health into its own conduct during the decades when it had direct responsibility for the running of Broadmoor.
But despite calls from Labour and some Conservative backbenchers, ministers have stopped short of ordering an independent inquiry into the entire Savile affair, including his behaviour at the BBC.
"Nothing has been ruled out. But it is right in the first instance that each organisation that has responsibilities fully investigates these allegations and revelations," a spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said on Wednesday.
Two additional formal inquiries are currently ongoing at the BBC
. The first, into the circumstances that led to the shelving of a Newsnight report into allegations against Savile, will be led by the former head of Sky News, Nick Pollard. Dame Janet Smith, the former high court judge who conducted the inquiry into the serial killer Harold Shipman, will look at the BBC's handling of material that might have been of interest to the police during the years that Savile worked at the corporation. The BBC will also look at wider allegations that a culture of harassment of women and girls was tolerated at the time.A police operation, led by the Metropolitan police but involving at least 14 other forces around the country, is also ongoing.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has led the calls for a single over-arching inquiry, saying: "In order to do right by the victims I don't think the BBC can lead their own inquiry. We need a broad look at all the public institutions involved - the BBC, parts of the NHS and Broadmoor. This has got to be independent."
But the culture secretary, Maria Miller, dismissed the calls in the House of Commons, saying she was confident that the BBC chiefs were taking the claims "very seriously".
"In terms of a wider inquiry, we have a police investigation ongoing at the moment," she said. "Everybody would agree that it is really important that those individuals who have been victims know that that investigation can go on unfettered and that should be our priority at this stage."
The Metropolitan police said last week it had identified around 60 possible victims of the late DJ, over a period of abuse spanning up to six decades.
The Department of Health is looking into its own conduct in the four decades to 2001, when Broadmoor was transferred from direct government control to West London Mental Health Trust. In 1988, the then health secretary Ken Clarke appointed Savile to chair a task force overseeing the hospital after its management board was dismissed, the Guardian revealed
. A number of Savile's alleged victims are preparing civil claims against Stoke Mandeville and the BBC, and lawyers have claimed the government could also be sued directly on the grounds of vicarious liability.
Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.