It is “wholly unacceptable” that the culture secretary did not meet the chair of the Welsh-language public service broadcaster as it was engulfed in a crisis, a group of Welsh MSs have said.
Senedd politicians wrote to Lucy Frazer on Thursday to say they were “astonished” she had not met S4C leaders despite repeated requests and said that Westminster had failed to deal with a bullying scandal that culminated in the sacking of two senior female executives.
Members of the Welsh parliament’s culture committee on Thursday joined Westminster’s Welsh affairs committee in calling for Rhodri Williams, the chair of S4C, to be replaced.
In a session with the Welsh parliament culture committee on Thursday, Williams argued he should stay in the role because staff and production companies wanted a “period of stability”, but the committee has now written to Frazer to recommend he is replaced when his term ends on 1 April.
Giving evidence, Williams said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had been aware of the difficulties at S4C and “on more than one occasion” he had requested a face-to-face or virtual meeting with the culture secretary. “The response I was given was that that was not necessary,” he said.
In a strongly worded letter to Frazer, the Senedd culture committee chair, Delyth Jewell, said it was “wholly unacceptable that neither you, as secretary of state, nor indeed your predecessors, have seen fit to meet the leadership of S4C”.
She continued: “As was made clear to us today, requests were made for a meeting to be held between S4C and the secretary of state to discuss the ongoing situation. We were astonished to find out that those requests were not accepted.”
S4C has been in turmoil since bullying allegations against the then CEO Sian Doyle were raised by the Bectu union in April last year. She was sacked in November, after an investigation into the allegations, weeks after the dismissal of her right-hand woman.
The report said the former CEO was “dictatorial, creating a culture of fear”. It also criticised her chief content officer, Llinos Griffin-Williams, who had a bullying complaint about the chair upheld before she was later sacked for gross misconduct.
Doyle said she did not “recognise or accept the allegations”, had not been offered a right of reply or appeal, and said her dismissal demonstrated an “unprecedented lack of governance for a public body”. She wrote to Frazer calling on her to urgently investigate S4C and its chair.
Griffin-Williams denied gross misconduct and comments attributed to her and said she had been dismissed without a fair investigation. The Guardian understands that Griffin-Williams and Doyle have commenced legal action against the broadcaster on multiple grounds.
Labour has accused Frazer of allowing “a damaging situation to continue unchecked”. In a joint letter, the shadow Welsh secretary, Jo Stevens, and the shadow culture secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, said: “There has been total silence from you and your department as this unfortunate saga has unfolded.”
Stevens said it was “shocking but not surprising” that Frazer had not met Williams. “This is Tory incompetence writ large,” she said.
A DCMS spokesperson said the government was expanding S4C’s powers in the media bill and had increased its funding since 2022.
They said: “As its sponsor department, DCMS has had frequent contact with S4C at senior official level as well as through correspondence and meetings between ministers and S4C leadership.”
• The headline and text of this article were amended on 12 January 2024 to remove references to the politicians being “MPs”; as members of the Senedd Cymru, or Welsh parliament, they are MSs.
