After Phillip Schofield's widely reported affair with a much younger coworker, an ITV executive defended the network's responsibility to its staff.
After admitting he had lied about the relationship to his employers and coworkers, the This Morning host left ITV last month.
There have also been claims made about a more pervasive "toxic" culture at the program.
Bullying is "unacceptable," according to Magnus Brooke, director of strategy, policy, and regulation at ITV, who also promised to "deal with it appropriately.".
ITV has a "very sophisticated and important system of safeguarding and duty of care with a very important set of policies," Mr. Brooke said on Tuesday before a House of Commons committee.
We have a code of conduct that outlines our expectations for how people should behave. It covers a range of topics, including equal opportunity, respect for others' rights at work, dignity, and understanding.
"We then have a crucial set of guidelines that hold individuals internally accountable. ".
ITV "seems like a very unhappy place," SNP MP John Nicolson informed Mr. Brooke after speaking with some of the organization's whistleblowers.
In addition, Mr. Nicolson brought up comments made by This Morning editor Martin Frizell regarding aubergines in response to a query from Sky News regarding the possibility of a "toxic" atmosphere on the program.
The reporter was told by Mr. Frizell, "I'll tell you what's toxic, and I've always found it to be toxic. Aubergine. Do you enjoy aubergines?
Those remarks, according to Mr. Nicolson, were "surreal and bizarre," and he continued, "I wouldn't want to be a young employee going in to talk to that editor about bullying given that that's the way he treats the subject matter on camera in public. ".
Mr. Brooke referred to the remarks about aubergines and said it was "extremely ill judged to say what he did.".
But I can assure you on behalf of ITV that we do take all of these allegations very seriously because we do have a culture where people's behavior matters a great deal to us, he continued.
The broadcaster revealed last week that it had asked Jane Mulcahy KC, a barrister, to head a review into its handling of a relationship between Schofield and his colleague, whom he met at the age of 15, and who he helped break into the industry.
According to Mr. Brooke, the action proved that the network "takes these issues very seriously.".
He expressed the hope that the investigation would "establish the facts" and "get to the bottom of what happened.".
Additionally, he stated to the culture, media, and sport committee: "Bullying is unquestionably a violation of our code of conduct, which is very clearly outlined, and we have a number of policies regarding bullying and harassment at work, both of which are obviously unacceptable.
"If we discover bullying, it's against our policy, and we'd expect people to report it and expect it to be handled properly. ".
In an interview with the BBC last week, Schofield refuted claims that There Was a Toxic Environment on This Morning and that He Had Become Too Powerful or Was Unpleasant to Work With. He claimed, "I'm not rude on the studio floor, and I don't bully people.
That came after Dr. Ranj Singh, who spent ten years working on This Morning, criticized the "toxic" workplace environment, saying the problems "go far beyond" Schofield.
He claimed that he "directly addressed ITV's top management" with his grievances, calling the subsequent procedure "pretty heart-breaking.".
Following Dr. Ranj's complaint, an independent review, according to ITV, "found no evidence of bullying or discrimination."
