Jo Whiley, one of BBC Radio 1's most high profile presenters, is to apologise on-air after a member of the corporation's staff posed as a caller to a competition on her show.

The BBC today announced that several employees had been disciplined over the incident, which occurred last April. The broadcaster insisted that Whiley was unaware of the deceit.

In a statement the BBC said: "A pre-recorded section of Radio 1's Jo Whiley Show on 20th April 2006 featured a phone competition in which a member of BBC staff posed as a caller from the audience.

"The incident came to light following the recent publication of further editorial breaches. A number of staff members have been disciplined. We would like to make clear that Jo Whiley was unaware that the caller was not a genuine member of the public. The BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee have been informed of this today."

The "competition" was contained within a two hour section of Whiley's three hour show that had been pre-recorded so that she could attend a reception for the re-opening of Broadcasting House, BBC Radio's London headquarters. The entire show was presented to listeners as though it was live.

Whiley, 45, will use her show tomorrow to apologise for the "competition", in which the winner was offered a selection of CDs. The BBC said that the staff member posing as a member of the public was not given the prize.

The mother-of three, former winner of the DJ of the Year award at the Sony Radio Awards, presents her show from 10am to 12.45pm.

The faked competition is the latest in a series of fakery scandals to hit the broadcaster. Senior figures at the BBC are said to be frustrated that the incident did not come to light during a recent internal review.

The investigation, in July, found that programmes including Children in Need and Sport Relief had contained elements of fakery. It was also disclosed that staff on the BBC 6 Music Liz Kershaw show posed as competition winners on “live” shows that had actually been pre-recorded.

In a statement, the BBC Trust said: "The Trust's Editorial Standards Committee has today received a report from BBC management about a breach of editorial standards by Radio 1 which occurred in 2006, but which was not included in the report received by the Trust at its September meeting.

"The Trust is satisfied that BBC management is taking appropriate action in light of this finding and that the breach raises no new issues which require any change to the Director-General's action plan.

"The Editorial Standards Committee will continue to receive regular reports on progress before the Director-General concludes his work and reports to the Trust in January."

This year the corporation had to apologise for a trailer for a documentary on the Queen that showed her apparently storming out of a photoshoot, when she was actually walking in.

In June, channel Five was ordered to pay £300,000 for faking winners on its Brainteaser quiz. Last month, breakfast broadcaster GMTV was fined a record £2 million for charging viewers to enter competitions they had no chance of winning.

The BBC also recently admitted falsifying the results of a poll to name a new Blue Peter cat, and was fined £50,000 for faking a competition winner on the show.

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