BBC investigating 25 harassment and bullying claims in wake of Weinstein allegations

‘Whether they are current or historic in relation to sexual harassment the important thing is that people come forward,’ says corporation’s deputy director general

BBC staff have been encouraged to come forward if they are unhappy at their treatment (Getty)

The BBC has seen a "spike" in complaints by staff of bullying and harassment, the deputy director general has disclosed.

Giving evidence to the Commons Digital, Media and Sport Committee, Anne Bulford said the corporation was currently dealing with 25 "live" cases covering a range of issues.

In the wake of the allegations about Harvey Weinstein, she said staff had been encouraged to come forward if they were unhappy at their treatment.

"You perhaps won't be surprised to know we have a spike at present. We have more cases at present than we have seen over the last three years," she said.

"In 2013-14 we were reporting 80 cases. In the last couple of years that has been at 40. We have got 25 live cases at the moment which is a range of different issues coming through.

"We have to deal with the cases as they come up and continue to encourage people to speak.

"Whether they are current or historic in relation to sexual harassment the important thing is that people come forward."

Ms Bulford said their priority was to encourage staff to come forward if they had a grievance rather than keeping down the numbers of complaints.

"After the Weinstein material was published we reminded staff again of the procedures. We have specialist people on the staff to support people who come forward," she said.

"It is a good thing that people come forward. It feels like a good thing if you don't have a lot of complaints - that might be good for a healthy culture.

"But actually what we wanted was not to worry about that too much - just have people come forward if they've got something to say."

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex made against him.

PA