On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the charges against Edwards.
Later, a spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport said Culture Secretary Ms Nandy was shocked by Edwards’ “abhorrent actions”.
The Statement continued: “The Secretary of State has spoken to the to raise concerns on a number of points regarding the handling of their own investigations into Huw Edwards, what safeguards and processes had been followed in this case, and additionally, what further action may be taken, especially with regard to the handling of licence fee payers’ money.”
Ms Nandy is said to be concerned the incident could damage public trust and has asked to be kept updated on its progress.
Edwards admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by a convicted paedophile, Alex Williams, on WhatsApp.
They included seven category A images, the most serious classification – two of which showed a child aged between about seven and nine.
After being arrested last November, Edwards was charged in June. He had been off air since July 2023, when he was suspended after being named as the star at the centre of different allegations involving an explicit photo.
Edwards resigned this April, which the said at the time was on “medical advice”.
In a statement on Wednesday, the said he would have been dismissed had he been charged while still employed.
Asked whether any figures in News knew about the charges before this week, Mr Davie confirmed CEO Deborah Turness was aware.
It was “a very small group of people at the centre” and “we had a very restricted list of names”, he said.
“When it comes to news, there was one name on it, the CEO of news, Deborah Turness. She isn’t involved editorially in the reporting of the story.”
Apart from Ms Turness, News was not aware of the arrest nor charges against Edwards until they were made public on Monday. News is editorially independent when reporting on the .
