The Director General of the BBC, George Entwistle, has offered a "profound and heartfelt apology" to alleged victims of Sir Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse as he announced that two inquiries would be launched.

Entwhistle said that while one inquiry will look into the "culture and practices of the BBC during the years Jimmy Savile worked here", the second would look into whether there were any failings over the handling of an abandoned Newsnight investigation into the late DJ.

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "I have made clear my revulsion at the thought that these criminal assaults were carried out by someone employed by the BBC and that some may have happened on BBC premises as well as, we now discover, in hospitals and other institutions across the UK."

The Government has also been dragged into the scandal after allegations that the TV presenter abused and raped patients at Broadmoor hospital in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was a volunteer there.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: "We will investigate the department's conduct in apparently appointing Savile to this role.

"Although the framework for child protection and safeguarding for Broadmoor and other special hospital patients changed radically in 1999, we of course want to establish the circumstances and see if any lessons can be learned.

"In hindsight he should very obviously not have been appointed. Had anyone involved in the appointment been aware of allegations of abuse against Savile, we would not have expected him to have been appointed."

Scotland Yard is pursuing 340 lines of inquiry in the abuse case, involving 40 potential victims, the force revealed.