THE BBC has issued a correction after a major error was made in a caption during an episode of Question Time filmed in Paisley.
The error occurred in the pop-up caption during a panel discussion on one third of Glasgow schoolchildren speaking English as a second language.
It cantered around statistics shared by the Scottish Government, that were leapt upon by Nigel Farage and his Reform colleagues.
On Monday evening, Culture Secretary Angus Robertson released a letter sent to the BBC's director general Time Davie demanding an urgent correction.
Just 20 minutes later, the BBC emailed The National highlighting that the corrections and clarifications page had been updated.
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Angus Robertson told the broadcaster’s chief that a correction should be issued over the “factual inaccuracy” as a “matter of urgency”.
The SNP MSP has been highly critical of the lack of an apology and correction from the broadcaster over phrasing used in a caption during the programme’s last episode, which was filmed in Paisley.
The BBC correction page now states: "During an episode from Paisley an audience member asked: 'Reportedly 1 in 3 school children in Glasgow don’t speak English as their first language, why does this matter?'
"The audience and panel took part in a debate based on the full-length question above, but during that an on-screen caption read: 'Does it matter that 1 in 3 kids in Glasgow don’t speak fluent English?'
"To be clear, this caption was an incorrect summary of the original question.
"Official figures show that in Glasgow around 3 per cent of pupils for whom English is an additional language are also fluent in English.
"We acknowledge we should have used the original wording of the question in the caption."
The caption was visible during the whole segment, and was not edited before the programme was made available on iPlayer.
In his letter to the BBC, released to the media on Monday, Robertson said: “I am writing in regard to last week’s episode of Question Time, and the factual inaccuracy in the caption displayed during the segment about schoolchildren in Glasgow.
“While I am aware that you have noted the loss of nuance between the question as asked and the caption displayed on screen, I believe that this error should be corrected, and a clarification issued to ensure that the public are aware of the facts of the matter.
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“As you have made clear in your annual report and elsewhere, it is a core part of the BBC’s role to pursue truth with no agenda, and to provide accurate, impartial news and information which audiences can trust.
“In this instance, the caption displayed on screen has not met that standard. Glasgow is a diverse city, and it is a source of pride that so many young people are multilingual.
“I hope that this can be better reflected in future, and that this inaccuracy can be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
We told how Robertson was critical of the BBC’s response to complaints over the phrasing of the caption.
In a statement to The National issued on Friday, the BBC said: “On-screen captions have limited space and we accept that on this occasion the phrasing of the caption lost some important nuance from the original wording of the question.
“The question was read out in full on the programme and that was the question that the panel and audience responded to.”
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