The national broadcaster last week announced separate inquiries into the unfolding scandal.

Ex-judge Janet Smith will lead the probe into the "culture and practices of the BBC" during the years Savile worked there.

Former Sky News man Nick Pollard will examine whether the BBC's Newsnight was right to drop an investigation into the flamboyant presenter due to be aired after his death.

George Entwistle, the BBC's new director general, has said the British Broadcasting Corporation would examine all "outstanding questions" once police inquiries into a growing number of allegations were completed.

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband on Monday called for the government to launch an independent inquiry into the claims.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller earlier said she was "confident" BBC chiefs would get to the bottom of the scandal, but the opposition leader later argued that this did not go far enough.

An ITV television documentary shown two weeks ago contained accounts from women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by Savile when they were children, in some cases on BBC premises.

The claims span four decades the first dating back to 1959 and information already gathered suggested the alleged abuse was on a "national scale," police said.