Civil service fact-checkers placed in ITV and Channel 4 to help with news output

Civil service fact-checkers were placed in ITV and Channel 4's headquarters to assist with the broadcasters' news output, it has emerged.

Employees at the Office for National Statistics were transplanted into the media firms to help out with data analysis in general election coverage, including verification during live TV debates.

However, during an election, civil servants are instructed to limit public communications and activity to uphold political impartiality throughout the campaign period.

Earlier this week, it was also revealed that civil service fast-stream graduates and managers across the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice had been deployed for up to six months at the BBC.

There, they penned articles for the media outlets and provided "expertise on high-impact, sensitive topics", such as the small boat crisis.

But the embattled broadcaster was forced to pause the scheme following furious accusations that it had broken stringent impartiality rules.

Now, similar schemes have been revealed to be in place across ITV News, Channel 4 News and BBC News for coverage of general elections, according to The Telegraph.

The ONS, on its website, openly asserts it took a "proactive approach" by deploying a senior statistician to the BBC to "lend his expertise to producers for the duration of the 2015 campaign".

The ONS wrote on its website: “In 2015 we took a proactive approach and sent a senior statistician to BBC News to lend his expertise to producers for the duration of the campaign.”

The programme was expanded at the 2017 general election campaign, during which three employees were "embedded with the production teams three of the UK’s main network news organisations".

At the next election, two years on, the ONS shared out its taxpayer-funded fact-checkers to each major broadcaster, while remaining employed as civil servants and tied to their obligations according to the Civil Service Code.

The ONS said: "Their professional opinion is provided in confidence and should not be used publicly to validate or impugn any claims or assertions made by candidates, political parties or any other person during the period of attachment."

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One civil servant recalled travelling to Lincolnshire to ask for locals' opinions on "how cutting migration could hurt local businesses".

Rebecca Paul, the Shadow Secretary of state for Culture, Media, Sport, warned the expose "raised yet more serious concerns about the relationship between the civil service, public sector bodies and the broadcasters".

She fumed: "Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for civil servants to help private broadcasters produce their election coverage.

"The BBC, the ONS and the civil service need to provide clarity about exactly what these officials were doing, who authorised these placements and why the public was paying for them."

Insisting coverage was checked and overseen by editors, a spokesman for Channel 4 News said: "Our journalism upholds the highest standards of editorial independence and impartiality.

"We have, on occasion, hosted statisticians on secondment from the Office for National Statistics, whose work was rigorously checked by our senior editorial team."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for ITV News said: "In the past, on occasion, we have hosted an ONS statistician for a short period of time to assist sourcing of statistics and data analysis. Editorial control and decisions are always the sole responsibility of ITV News journalists and editors."

A spokesman for the BBC 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 Government Statistical Service, the body which represents civil service statisticians, said: "These secondments are a valuable part of our investment in developing the skills of government statisticians, providing first-hand experience of how government data are used and communicated.

"Bringing that back into the Civil Service helps us communicate statistics clearly, informing the public and decision makers.

"The role of secondees is to fact check and advise on the accurate use of statistics. All are required to adhere to the Civil Service Code of objectivity and impartiality."