BBC halts civil servant scheme after impartiality row over government staff being sent into the newsroom to write and fact-check articles on Covid and boat migrants

BBC halts civil servant scheme after impartiality row over government staff being sent into the newsroom to write and fact-check articles on Covid and boat migrants The BBC has paused its secondment programme for government statisticians working with its fact-checking service, BBC Verify, pending a review of their roles. Since 2018, the corporation has offered six-month secondments for up to two civil servant statisticians to work with BBC News’s head of statistics. Now, the BBC has said that those currently on secondment will not be involved in publishing news or content while the review is under way. Recruitment for the next round of secondments, scheduled to take place in 2027, will be paused, pending the review. A BBC spokesperson said: 'We are pausing the civil service statistician secondment programme whilst we review the terms of the arrangement. 'To be clear, all BBC journalism and editorial decisions are made by BBC journalists and editors, in line with the BBC’s editorial guidelines, so the statisticians never make editorial decisions. 'However, the BBC takes independence and transparency incredibly seriously, and we must ensure we are meeting the highest standards.' The BBC has paused its secondment programme for government statisticians working with its fact-checking service, BBC Verify, pending a review of their roles The move comes after the BBC was accused of breaching its impartiality rules by using civil servants to write and fact-check articles. Graduates and managers seconded to the corporation’s newsroom were asked to work on stories concerning controversial topics, such as the small-boats crisis and the Covid pandemic. Civil servants who wrote the pieces and blog posts were even given bylines suggesting they were part of BBC Verify or the news team’s staff. The revelations have raised questions as to whether any of the Government officials tried to influence the Beeb’s coverage by aligning it with Whitehall’s stance. One civil servant was given the task of drafting ‘copy’ on annual population statistics for a news article related to migration. He also had to fact-check ‘claims about crime rates among different nationalities that were dominating news cycles’. He claims to have then drafted an ‘explainer’ piece that went online and said his notes were used by his boss on the radio. Another, who worked for the BBC in 2024, was asked to analyse small-boats data to see if bad weather in 2022 might have led to fewer crossings. The secondment scheme has involved 39 Whitehall officials over the last eight years, with them spending three or six-month placements at the BBC. BBC director general Matt Brittin has pledged to tackle bias by rolling out technology that monitors how often certain words or phrases are used A BBC spokesman denied the civil servants had any editorial control and said their bylines would be amended to include their full job titles. Elsewhere, the BBC was accused of 'brainwashing' children after a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed its education website is pushing 'extreme' Left-wing views on migration, Net Zero and inequality to millions of pupils. BBC Bitesize – which is promoted by almost every UK state school – encourages children to play an online game called Increasing Immigration, in which they are rewarded for choosing 'open borders' and granting an amnesty to illegal migrants. The website also suggests that those who voice concerns that migrants will take jobs from local people are 'prejudiced' and makes a string of claims about the economic benefits of migration. Pupils are encouraged to campaign for controversial Net Zero policies and join human rights groups such as Amnesty International – while the website praises the divisive Black Lives Matter movement and Left-wing activists such as Greta Thunberg. Our revelations will fuel allegations of political bias at the broadcaster and follows a series of scandals that have damaged the BBC's reputation, including its doctoring of a Donald Trump speech.