Oxfam has tightened up safeguarding and launched a whistleblowers' helpline following the scandal

Former senior figures from the World Bank and the United Nations (UN) will lead an independent commission into the sex scandal that has engulfed Oxfam.

They will head up a review of the charity’s safeguarding policies and practices after lurid stories of sexual misconduct in its Haiti programme broke last month.

This, and subsequent revelations about abuse around Oxfam’s Chad operation, led to a cascade of allegationswhich have rocked the charity aid sector.

Zainab Bangura, former under-secretary general of the UN, and Katherine Sierra, former vice-president of the World Bank, will co-chair the independent commission.

Oxfam said both co-chairs had significant experience of safeguarding, with Bangura having served as the special representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Sierra having co-led the World Bank’s global gender-based violence taskforce.

The charity’s safeguarding budget has been tripled, and new staff are being recruited to oversee safety.

Oxfam has also begun operating an external, independent whistleblowing hotline.

The charity’s policy on staff references has also been overhauled to prevent former employees dismissed for gross misconduct from working elsewhere in the sector.

It took this move after it became clear staff booted out after the Haiti incidents had found work with other aid groups.

Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said: "Preventing and tackling sexual abuse is as important to me as saving lives when disasters hit. We’ve got better at it since 2011, but we know there’s a lot more we can and must do – the commission will help us do that.

"Any employee found guilty of gross misconduct will find it much harder to hold a similar position in the future. The additional resources and external whistleblowing line will make it easier for allegations to be reported and acted upon swiftly."