A Westminster committee will take SDLP leader Colum Eastwood's call for it to investigate editorial and governance issues at BBC Northern Ireland "very seriously", according to one of its members.
Welsh Labour MP Kevin Brennan was speaking after it emerged that the Foyle MP has urged the Culture, Media and Sport Committee to probe “serious editorial and governance issues” at the regional broadcaster.
Mr Eastwood outlined his concerns in a letter to committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage, the contents of which were revealed by the BBC.
The correspondence includes the recent allegations that presenter Stephen Nolan had sent explicit pictures of reality television personality Stephen Bear to colleagues.
He later apologised on air, stating the image had been taken off the internet and sent to “a long-term friend and peer outside of work”.
It is also alleged that junior employees were placed in the audience of the Nolan Live TV show to identify “someone feisty” in order to enliven studio debates, which both BBC NI and Mr Nolan have denied.
The latest development comes a week after the Irish News reported the SDLP were preparing to raise their concerns at Westminster.
It had been suggested the SDLP was also going to write to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Responding over Mr Eastwood’s letter, a BBC spokesperson said it "would welcome any further opportunity to talk with the SDLP about the BBC's work and the difference that it makes," adding that "fairness underpins our workplace policies, procedures and commissioning arrangements".
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The committee has the power to hold inquiries and public hearings, which recently included questioning ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall over the Phillip Schofield scandal.
Mr Eastwood voices a number of issues in his letter which he claims have the potential to "contribute in a significant way to the erosion of confidence" in BBC NI’s management.
This includes failing to properly address the accusations of “inappropriate behaviour”.
He also talks of editorial decision making which has led to “a perceived imbalance” in the output of individual programming and affording too much airtime to “fringe groups that far outweighs their representation and support”.
Other governance concerns related to the management of independent production companies responsible for the co-production of BBC content and the commissioning of programmes and competitive tender processes.
On issues of morale and organisational culture, he said it had led to senior figures, especially women, leaving BBC NI after legal settlements.
Describing “a perceived unwillingness” by management to publicly address a catalogue matters, he said his party’s main interest was to maintain the integrity of the BBC as a public service broadcaster as well as the “incredible journalists, presenters, producers, staff and all those who make a special broadcaster.”
Mr Brennan said it was the MPs had experience of questioning high-ranking BBC figures.
"I’m sure that the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee will take the letter from the SDLP very seriously when it reconvenes in September," he told The Irish News.
"We regularly scrutinise the top brass of the BBC as part of our remit to ensure that the highest standards of public service broadcasting are upheld – including in Northern Ireland."
A BBC spokesperson said: "We engage with politicians and stakeholders on a regular basis and would welcome any further opportunity to talk with the SDLP about the BBC's work and the difference that it makes, and how fairness underpins our workplace policies, procedures and commissioning arrangements.
"We are accountable for what we do and ambitious for the service that we provide.
"All of this work is informed by the same editorial values and aspires to the same standard of excellence.
"BBC Northern Ireland succeeds on the basis of its hard-won editorial record, reputation and independence - none of which we take for granted."
