BBC bans unaccompanied children from studios in bid to prevent sick child sex attacks from paedo stars like Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall
Lone kids will no longer be allowed into Beeb's studio audiences without a chaperone in a bid to stop stars' abuse
THE BBC has banned unaccompanied under-18s from its studio audiences in a bid to prevent paedos like Jimmy Savile carrying out sex attacks.
The move comes following Dame Janet Smith’s review in February that detailed “serious failings” that let Savile and pundit Stuart Hall, 86, carry out abuse at the corporation in the Seventies and Eighties.
She said stars had been "treated with kid gloves and were virtually untouchable" in her review earlier this year.
Reports identified 72 victims of Jimmy Savile - including eight rape victims - and 21 of pundit Hall. The abuses took place over five decades from 1959 onwards.
Savile targeted teens during recordings of Top of the Pops and BBC chiefs were criticised in the review
for being worried about taking on its stars.
Some shows like the child-only Teen Choice Awards will now be signed off by the Beeb’s head of child protections and include chaperones.
These minders will be trained by the charity NSPCC.
Other policies in place include child protection advisers and a bullying and harassment policy including specific examples of what constitutes inappropriate behaviour.
Chair of the BBC Trust Rona Fairhead said: “Preventing abuses and institutional failures of the kind recounted in the report requires constant vigilance, a strong and appropriate culture, and robust policies that meet the highest possible standards for child protection, whistleblowing, and reporting and investigating complaints.
“The BBC owes it to the survivors and to everyone it works with or whose trust is placed in it, to make sure these events can never be repeated. The trust welcomes and endorses the BBC’s report today and the clear commitment to this aim.”
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BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: "A lot has happened since these terrible crimes first emerged. As Dame Janet's review showed offenders are often devious and cunning; they operate in all walks of life and often in plain sight.
"No area of society, profession, or environment is immune. That is why we all have to be vigilant and have the best possible policies and processes."
He added: "The BBC is now a different place, but we are not complacent and neither should others be. We hope our full response will also help other organisations and we will continue to seek to learn from them.
"As we move into the new Charter period, I want us to be sure that the BBC of the future is always mindful of the lessons from the past."