The BBC has more than 400 transgender staff, ab internal survey has revealed

It stunned the corporation's head of diversity who was behind the research

Tunde Ogungbesan has now launched a major reform to make the BBC more 'trans-friendly'

The BBC has more than 400 transgender staff, a confidential internal survey has revealed.

The figure represents more than one in 50 of the workforce – about four times higher than the proportion in the population at large.

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And it stunned the BBC executive behind the research, who described the total number of trans employees, at 417, as 'very, very high'.

Tunde Ogungbesan, the BBC's director of diversity, has now launched a major reform to make the Corporation more 'trans-friendly' following the findings.

The issue of trans rights has divided Britain, with a split between traditionalists who believe gender is assigned at birth and progressives who believe a liberal society should make strides against any form of discrimination towards trans people.

Tunde Ogungbesan (pictured), the BBC's director of diversity, has now launched a major reform to make the Corporation more 'trans-friendly' following the findings

Using personal information about BBC staff that 'only a couple of people would ever know', Mr Ogungbesan also revealed that 11 per cent of BBC employees were lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

But he said he did not regard the BBC as diverse enough, claiming more lesbians were needed.

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Of the Corporation's 21,239 staff, almost a quarter declined to reveal their orientation.

Of the remainder 2.2 per cent said they were bisexual, 4.8 per cent were gay men and 1.3 per cent lesbian.

The BBC's trans employees include local radio presenter Stephanie Hirst (pictured)

Of the whole UK, 2 per cent of people say they are lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to official figures from 2016.

The BBC's research comes as the Government prepares to announce plans to make it less stressful and bureaucratic for people to be able to change gender.

Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt, who will launch a consultation on Tuesday, has told Cabinet colleagues she regards it as 'one of the most important issues facing modern British society'.

Mr Ogungbesan revealed his findings at a conference attended by senior civil servants, doctors and transgender rights campaigners earlier last month.

He teasingly told them: 'Can someone have a guess at how many people have disclosed they are transgender at the BBC. Ten? Anyone else? Twenty? Not bad. One more? I will put you out of your misery. We've got 417... almost two per cent. That is very, very high.'

Mr Ogungbesan told the Westminster Social Policy Forum that the results would lead to the rewriting of the BBC's 'style guide', which sets out the rules on 'fairness and terminology' at the corporation.

He added: 'What we are on is a journey within the BBC... if we can create a culture where everyone feels they can bring their best work into the organisation and with that you can begin to change from within the thought processes and the ways people behave and the way they broadcast their programmes, then we would have achieved what we are trying to do.'

The BBC has more than 400 transgender staff, a confidential internal survey has revealed

Last night, critics expressed fears that BBC producers could be forced to shoehorn politically- correct storylines about transgender people into programmes.

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Nicola Williams, from feminist group Fair Play For Women – which objects to men being able to self-identify as women – said she was concerned about possible changes to the Corporation's output.

How corporation's head of diversity revealed amazement at findings of secret survey The BBC understands the benefit of a diverse and inclusive organisation. We have moved away from the normal areas of diversity, gender and ethnicity and expanded it to include sexual orientation and trans, class, religion, thought processes and social economic diversity. We want to ensure 8 per cent of our people are from the LGBT community by 2020. We did a census to make sure that we could put the information we have of individuals on to their records, but it was also anonymous. Only a couple of people would ever know that data, I am one… No one else would know anything about the ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender of anyone within the BBC and it was important to buy in the whole of the organisation, just over 21,000 people. The results were fascinating. Can someone have a guess at how many people we've got who have disclosed that they are transgender in the BBC? Ten? Anyone else? Twenty? Not bad. One more? I will put you out of your misery, we've got 417 people within the BBC who have said they are transgender, almost 2 per cent of the organisation, which is very, very high. If you have a figure like that you have to think how you make the BBC inclusive – because people have trusted you. We have looked at how we work with people who are trans, or thinking of transitioning, within the organisation. We do not operate an official dress code… and recognise the importance of using an individual's preferred pronoun and using a pronoun incorrectly could amount to bullying and harassment. We are committed to supporting employees who choose to transition, including providing for paid time off for medical appointments, treatments and surgical procedures in line with the managing health and attendance policy. We have launched four new work streams to look at the culture and career progression of under-represented groups within the BBC. We felt that we didn't need one around LGBT because our figures were quite high in terms of our percentages – 11 per cent of BBC employees say that they are LGBT and, of that 11 per cent, 12 per cent are in leadership positions. Then some people said... they are mainly the Gs [gay] and the Bs [bisexual], so the lesbians and the transgender folk, the figures are not as high as you would want them to be, especially with the lesbians. We needed a fifth work stream around LGBT, which will be starting in the next couple of weeks, with an apology to the organisation for not starting with them in the first place. People thought Galileo was mad because he thought the earth revolved around the sun. Everyone else thought the sun revolved around the earth. But he said 'measure what is measurable and find a way to measure that what is not' – and it is very important. Because what gets measured gets done, and the fact that we have measured in the BBC and know what the figures are, has helped us move the agenda forward. Our goal is to create a culture where everyone feels they can bring their best work and begin to change the thought processes and ways people behave and broadcast their programmes. We are looking at the style guide… we are on a journey.

'The BBC already refers to trans women as 'women' without challenging the idea,' she said.

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The BBC's trans employees include local radio presenter Stephanie Hirst.

And two years ago, it was at the centre of controversy over the CBBC series Just A Girl, which portrayed an 11-year-old called Amy transitioning from a boy to a girl.

But it has also been accused of being transphobic: in May, comedian Peter Kay was criticised for a joke in his Car Share show about a transgender woman.

A BBC spokesman said: 'Tunde was clearly speaking about the work we're doing to improve the culture at the BBC. He wasn't referring to taking an editorial position on transgender issues.'