TV chiefs will have to reveal gay staff numbers

THE BBC and ITV will be forced by law to audit how many gay and transsexual staff they have on and off screen under leaked Government plans seen by The Mail on Sunday.

And following ageism rows at the Corporation, broadcasters will be told to reveal the ages of all their employees.

New Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has written to the Prime Minister outlining her plans to give regulator Ofcom sweeping powers to collect detailed diversity data from the TV industry.

Since 2017, Ofcom has monitored gender, race and disability employment figures at broadcasters, but now Mrs Morgan wants to massively widen the criteria. She will order data to be collected on age, gender reassignment, marriage, pregnancy, race, religion and sexual orientation – currently only made available on a voluntary basis.

In her letter to Boris Johnson, leaked to the MoS, Mrs Morgan insists the new data will be ‘invaluable’ in providing transparency over broadcast industry failings ‘highlighting where improvements still need to be made’. Whitehall insiders said Ofcom had requested the clampdown after struggling to get broadcasters to comply by their own free will.

In 2017, a bitter row erupted after a number of BBC female stars including Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and Emily Maitlis went public with complaints that male colleagues were much better paid.

Ex-Countryfile host Miriam O’Reilly won a tribunal in 2011 against the BBC on the grounds of ageism, after the then 53-year-old said she had been unfairly dismissed from the show for being too old.