ITV BOSS Dame Carolyn McCall has been summoned to parliament to answer questions about safeguarding at the network.
MPs on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee want to grill the embattled TV chief on Wednesday morning.
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In a letter to Dame Carolyn, committee chair Caroline Dineage said: “The public must have confidence in the robustness of Public Service Broadcasters’ safeguarding procedures.
“With this in mind, we look forward to meeting with you at 10am on Wednesday 14th June so that we can raise these issues with you directly.
“It is incumbent upon all media organisations to demonstrate how seriously they take their responsibilities and your appearance before the Committee will enable ITV to do so.”
Dame Carolyn risks a major row with parliament if she doesn’t show up to the grilling.
But legally she isn’t obliged to take part.
It comes as ITV yesterday announced it will launch a review following Phillip Schofield’s admission he lied about an affair with a male This Morning worker.
The presenter confessed he had been having an affair with a “much younger” ITV worker while still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe.
In a statement, he said the affair was “unwise, but not illegal”.
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And he apologised for misleading his lawyers – adding: “I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family.”
And ITV has now instructed a barrister to carry out an external review, a letter written by chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has revealed.
In the letter, she said the company had been “badly let down” after Schofield’s assurances.
She said: “The ITV employee was aged 19 when he first did work experience at This Morning in 2015 and 20 years old when he applied and succeeded in securing a job as a runner on the show.
“He subsequently applied for and was successful in securing a promotion to Loose Women in 2019. He left ITV in 2021.
“As you would imagine given the social media scrutiny of him, we have offered him our support throughout this period and indeed are still doing so.
“The employee has made it clear that he does not wish to be named or identified in connection with this matter.
“We would be grateful if you would be mindful of this.
“The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust.
“Phillip made assurances to us and his agency which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.
“We consider our approach was reasonable and proportionate at the time and in the circumstances.
“We believe that we did not have any grounds to mount any other sort of investigation.”
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