ITV has asked a barrister to carry out an external review of Phillip Schofield’s departure from This Morning.

The development was announced by the broadcaster’s chief executive, Dame Carolyn McCall, in a letter to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, chair of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage, and the Ofcom chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes.

Here are key extracts:

“You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield.

“As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend.

“These show that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in late 2019/early 2020 ITV investigated.

“Both parties were questioned then and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip’s then agency, YMU.

“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on the This Morning and wider Daytime team and were not provided with, and did not find any evidence of, a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.

“Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month.”

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The letter goes on to say ITV offered “support” to the man who Phillip Schofield said he had an affair with.

“As you would imagine, given the social media scrutiny of him, we have offered him our support throughout this period and indeed are still doing so.

“The employee has made it clear that he does not wish to be named or identified in connection with this matter.

“We would be grateful if you would be mindful of this.

“The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust.

“Phillip made assurances to us and his agency which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.

“We consider our approach was reasonable and proportionate at the time and in the circumstances.

“We believe that we did not have any grounds to mount any other sort of investigation.”

The letter also refers to wider claims about This Morning, including allegations of a “toxic culture” by Dr Ranj Singh, a former presenter on the show, saying: “We were sorry to read his statement.

“We are fully committed to providing every opportunity for anyone who works with us to raise any concern or comments they may have.

“Following a complaint made by Dr Ranj, we appointed an external and independent adviser to carry out a review.

“This external review found no evidence of bullying or discrimination.

“I want to reassure you that as a producer and broadcaster, ITV takes its responsibilities around duty of care and speaking up seriously and has robust and well-established processes in place which allow anyone who works with us to raise concerns they may have anonymously.

“The confidential reporting number and other ways of raising concerns are promoted via a number of channels, which includes ITV’s internal staff website, across ITV buildings and how to speak up is part of ITV’s code of ethics and conduct annual mandatory training for all staff.

“We have now instructed Jane Mulcahy KC (Blackstone Chambers) to carry out an external review to establish the facts.

“She will review our records and talk to people involved.

“This work will also consider our relevant processes and policies and whether we need to change or strengthen any.

“Given Phillip’s admission of the extent of his deception the work will extend to cover any related issues that may emerge.

“This work will be carried out as quickly as possible and we will be happy to share the outcome.”

ITV has instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts following Phillip Schofield’s statement and departure from This Morning, chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has said.

In a letter seen by the PA news agency, ITV’s Dame McCall said: “You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield.

“As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend.

“Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month.

Phillip Schofield: Timeline of ITV departure after colleague affair

“There has been a lot of inaccuracy in the reporting so I thought it would be useful to set out some facts.”

The letter was sent to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage and Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.

Schofield has said he had an “unwise but not illegal” relationship with a younger colleague.

The letter says ITV have offered him support “throughout this period” and are still doing so.

Schofield resigned from the broadcaster on Friday after admitting both to the affair and lying about it. He was also dropped by his talent agency, YMU.

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The relationship took place while the 61-year-old was still married to Stephanie Lowe, and before he publicly came out as gay.

The letter goes on to say that ITV has instructed Jane Mulcahy KC, of Blackstone Chambers, to “carry out an external review to establish the facts.”

“She will review our records and talk to people involved. This work will also consider our relevant processes and policies and whether we need to change or strengthen any,” the letter said.

ITV bosses are set to be quizzed by MPs over their handling of the situation at This Morning next week.

The network’s executives will appear before the Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee on Tuesday.

They had been scheduled to appear before the committee anyway, to discuss the draft Media Bill, but have been told to expect an interrogation over the Schofield affair as well.

The England squad for the Women’s World Cup has been announced, with Lucy Bronze, Lauren James and Mary Earps among the 23 players heading to Australia and New Zealand.

Beth Mead, who won the Golden Boot in last year’s Euro 2022 triumph, has been recovering from an ACL injury sustained in November and will miss out.

Captain Leah Williamson and midfielder Fran Kirby, who are injured, are also among those who will not be going to the tournament.

Speaking about the high profile absentees, England boss Sarina Wiegman said: “It’s very disappointing for Leah. It’s very sad but it’s the same for Fran [Kirby] and the same for Beth Mead. But you have to move on too, and unfortunately this is part of top-level sport.”

Wiegman confirmed defender Millie Bright will take on the captaincy in light of Williamson’s absence.

Asked if there was ever a chance of Mead recovering from her injury in time, Wiegman said: “No, I don’t think so. Beth is so positive and she’s going really well [in her recovery]. But we were always wary of her time schedule.”

England’s first game is against Haiti on 22 July and they will later play Denmark and China in Group D.

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Here’s the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Mary Earps (Man Utd), Ellie Roebuck (Man City), Hannah Hampton (Aston Villa)

Defenders: Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Jess Carter (Chelsea), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Man City), Esme Morgan (Manchester City), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Keira Walsh (Barcelona), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Ella Toone (Man Utd), Jordan Nobbs (Aston Villa), Laura Coombs (Man City), Katie Zelem (Man Utd)

Forwards: Alessia Russo (Man Utd), Rachel Daly (Aston Villa), Lauren Hemp (Man City), Chloe Kelly (Man City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Katie Robinson (Brighton), Bethany England (Tottenham)

Expectations are high for Wiegman’s team after winning last summer’s Euro 2022.

They also beat Brazil in the first-ever Women’s Finalissima in April this year.

The World Cup squad was announced at Sutton Coldfield’s Boldmere St Michael’s FC to “highlight the strong connection between the grassroots game and England teams”.

Asked about the weight of expectation following recent successes, Wiegman said: “Our approach is no different in this tournament in the sense that we always want to be at our best.

“We’re a little bit in transition now with some changes in the team, but I still think we’re really good and have many very talented players.

“We’re just going to make sure that we’re at our best and then we’ll see how far we’ll go.

“We’re still in a very good place.”

Jordan Nobbs is included in the squad despite sustaining an injury in Aston Villa’s penultimate game of the season.

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Meanwhile, Katie Zelem has been brought back after not making the last squad in April and there is no recall for Williamson’s predecessor as captain Steph Houghton.

Jess Park, Maya Le Tissier and Emily Ramsey have been named on standby.

Wiegman said after the squad announcement: “The last week has been pretty stressful. We’ve had to make hard decisions in the last period. It’s nice for the ones who are in, it’s not nice for the ones who aren’t.

“We’ve had very good conversations with the tactical staff, we follow the players very closely. But it’s been really hard.”

Wiegman also said she had some very enjoyable phone calls with players who found out they had made the squad.

Giving her thoughts on the selection, former England goalkeeper Carly Telford told Sky Sports News: “It’s good to see Millie Bright on that list. I think we’ll all be relieved about that.

“She’s [Wiegman] gone with experience in Jordan Nobbs. It’s great to see her back, along with Katie Zelem – I think they’re going to be important.

“There’s some freshness in there. Katie Robinson’s a very exciting prospect.

“No Jess Park, which is disappointing, but her injury towards the end of the season probably hindered her a little bit.

“It’s a solid squad. It’s got good versatility and good depth.”