BBC accused of breaching its impartiality rules after using civil servants to write and fact-check articles on Covid and boat migrants

The BBC was last night accused of breaching its impartiality rules after 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. Four more candidates are expected to join the broadcaster next year, the Telegraph reported. The Civil Service pays their wages while they are in the newsroom.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood warned that the BBC ‘must never allow a political agenda to influence BBC coverage via the back door’.

He added: ‘Taxpayers and licence-fee payers have a right to expect transparency, honesty and impartiality. At a minimum, if the BBC is going to publish material produced by civil servants, it must make the source clear to readers and viewers. The public will wonder why, when there are so many challenges facing our country, civil servants are being loaned to the media.

‘Is it really a good value for taxpayers’ money for civil servants to be reporting on issues like the small-boats crisis rather than working to solve them?’

Reform’s Danny Kruger said the allegations, if proved, ‘would represent a severe conflict of interest’. A BBC spokesman denied the civil servants had any editorial control and said their bylines would be amended to include their full job titles.