BBC director general George Entwistle has asked a senior colleague to answer Newsnight journalists’ questions on the dropping of the programme’s planned investigation into Sir Jimmy Savile.

BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie has been appointed to explain why the broadcast was dropped last December.

The discussion will be fed back to the BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten.

The corporation has always said the decision to drop the film was taken for “editorial reasons”.

A statement from the BBC Press Office said: “This is not a review. The director general has simply asked Ken MacQuarrie to talk to members of the Newsnight team who had emailed him.”

Mr MacQuarrie is also a member of the BBC Management board.

The Metropolitan Police is now leading an inquiry into claims of abuse against the Leeds-born presenter and is pursuing 120 separate lines of inquiry.

A further two forces have referred a total of three new complaints to Scotland Yard, it has emerged.

Meanwhile, several hospitals are investigating allegations that Savile preyed on children during visits to wards as part of a catalogue of abuse.

Leeds General Infirmary has received two complaints of sexual assault by Savile dating back to the 1970s.

It is also claimed he groped patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, where he was a volunteer fundraiser.

The Conservative Party chairman, Grant Shapps, said on BBC One’s Question Time that there were questions to be answered and that “the BBC knows that”. He also said the number of people who had come forward with claims of abuse was “disturbing”.

Meanwhile The Sun claimed he assaulted a 17-year-old patient during a visit to Broadmoor as a hospital fundraiser in the 1970s. The claim is being investigated by its NHS trust.

But West London Mental Health NHS Trust said it had not been approached by police or any former patients or their representatives with any allegations.

The BBC will also hold an inquiry into allegations Savile abused girls while working for the corporation after the police investigation is completed. A figure from outside the corporation will chair it.

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