Children In Need boss resigns over grants for LGBT youth in Scotland

The chairman of BBC Children in Need has resigned after reports he protested grants to an LGBTQ+ youth charity whose former chief executive was convicted of child sex offenses 15 years ago.

Rosie Millard, a former BBC journalist, was head of Children In Need for six years.

In the letter, seen by The TimesMillard reportedly criticized the charity and its chief executive, Simon Antrobus, for its response to the controversy after it emerged that Children In Need provided funding to LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS), an organization that supports queer youth in the devolved nation.

In 2009, the chief executive of the LGBTYS group, Jame Rennie, was convicted of sexual abuse of a boy and was involved in what was believed to be at the time Scotland’s biggest pedophile network.

Grants from Children in Need for LGBTYS, which eventually totaled £466,000 (more than $580,000), began seven months later.

LGBTYS hit the headlines again this year after a former user of the service, Andrew Eaton, was convicted of sharing indecent images of children, including some of the newborns. Eaton contributed to who contributed to the schools guidance set up by LGBT Youth Scotland in 2010, but was never employed by the charity.

In May this year, grants for LGBTY people were suspended after Millard alerted the charity to the case in 2009 and the funding was withdrawn three months later.

A Children in Need spokesman said: “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of all children and young people. When allegations were made in relation to LGBT Youth Scotland, their grant was immediately suspended with the full support of the council and a review commenced.

“To do this thoroughly and fairly, the review took three months and culminated in the decision to withdraw funding.”

However, Millard accused the charity of “institutional failure” and claimed Antrobus had not taken the issue “with the necessary level of seriousness”, saying it had hesitated for months.

Millard claimed that Antrobus and the charity’s board “did everything in their power to distract the board from the duty to stop funding” during the review period and only eventually did so by fear of bad publicity.

Antrobus has not publicly commented on Millard’s resignation.

In a statement to The Times, Mhairi Crawford, the current chief executive of LGBTYS, said Millard’s resignation letter “demonstrates the ideological nature of his attacks on our organisation”.

She went on to say: “We are delighted to see confirmation that Children in Need’s investigations into the work of LGBT Youth Scotland found nothing to report.

“Time and time again, those with anti-inclusive motives point to historical allegations in an attempt to destroy our reputation, allegations which have been investigated and cleared up by Police Scotland and found to have nothing to do with our work.”

Rape Crisis England and Wales works to end sexual abuse. If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can access more information about their website or by calling the National Rape Crisis Helpline on 0808 802 9999. Scotland’s Rape Crisis the helpline number is 08088 01 03 02.