S4C: Committee of MPs calls on authorities to nominate new chair for Welsh-language broadcaster

A committee of MPs has really useful the federal government appoint a brand new chair for Welsh-language broadcaster S4C.

The chair of the Welsh affairs committee has written to the tradition secretary after an evidence session with current S4C chair Rhodri Williams and the lead non-executive board member of the unitary board, Chris Jones.

Sian Doyle was sacked as chief executive of the public service broadcaster in November after an investigation into the organisation’s tradition.

The report – carried out by industrial authorized agency Capital Law – mentioned Ms Doyle’s management type was “dictatorial” and located she was “creating a culture of fear”.

Ms Doyle was admitted to hospital last month following her dismissal.

In an announcement launched on the time, her husband mentioned she had “suffered a sustained pattern of retaliation, unfair treatment, and bullying at the hands of the chairman of S4C”.

Mr Williams denies the allegations.

“It has been suggested in some of the comments that have been in the press that this is something that I’ve driven, that I’ve made decisions. I would refute those allegations completely,” he mentioned.

Mr Williams insisted whereas giving proof to MPs on Wednesday that it was “the right decision” to dismiss Ms Doyle.

In his letter to Lucy Frazer, committee chair Stephen Crabb famous “an absence of cultural leadership at board level”.

Mr Crabb mentioned “urgent work” was required to replace HR insurance policies.

“We are concerned at the approach Mr Williams and the board took in seeking advice and reaching assurance in relation to key decisions it made,” he added.

He mentioned the committee remained “concerned about the ability of the current leadership to oversee the changes required to rebuild trust at all levels of the organisation and with its wider stakeholders”.

The committee was not glad “different complaints made against specific individuals had been handled equitably and with proper consideration of the fair treatment of all those involved”.

The suggestion of the committee is for the federal government to nominate a brand new chair, “given the importance of S4C and the scale of the challenges”.

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An S4C spokesperson mentioned the broadcaster had nothing additional so as to add to the chair’s earlier feedback.

Sky News has requested the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for its response.

The free-to-air public broadcast tv channel was Launched on 1 November 1982, as the primary tv channel to be aimed particularly at a Welsh-speaking viewers. It had a mean weekly viewers of 324,000 in Wales in 2022/23, in response to its annual report.

It receives tens of tens of millions of kilos in funding yearly from the TV licence payment.