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UK culture secretary may mandate entertainment safeguarding body
BBC Newsnight reports Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is prepared to force industry participation in a voluntary whistleblower body if entertainment leaders do not tighten safeguards.
- New headline Was: “Government could force media industry to improve safeguards after Walliams allegations”
- Our desk filed its story
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is prepared to force the UK entertainment industry to strengthen safeguarding unless companies act quickly, BBC Newsnight reported on Wednesday1.
The BBC said Nandy will tell broadcasting, publishing, film and entertainment leaders at a round table next week that they should tighten practices themselves, and that the government might intervene if their response is not judged robust enough1. Intervention could include requiring participation in the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, which is now voluntary1.
Nandy said earlier this week that she was summoning those industry leaders, according to the BBC1. The BBC linked the meeting to allegations against entertainer David Walliams, which he denies, and to the sentencing of Russell Brand on rape and sexual assault charges1.
The BBC said a joint Guardian and ITV News investigation published allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of position after Walliams lost a court bid to keep the claims private1. Walliams denies all the allegations, the BBC reported1. In a letter to journalists described by the BBC, he said he was not a sexual predator and had not broken the law1.
Women and Equalities minister Bridget Phillipson told Sky News, as quoted by the BBC, that there was "scope to go further" on laws that restrict non-disclosure agreements so the legal system was not used to silence women1.
Can't Buy My Silence founder Zelda Perkins told BBC Newsnight that safeguards around high-profile people in creative industries are insufficient and that joining CIISA should be mandatory1. Perkins told the programme there are "not enough safeguards" around those figures1.
Separately, an anonymous producer told the BBC she was instructed years ago to keep Walliams away from young female staff on a show where he was a guest1. The BBC said lawyers for Walliams, as reported via the Guardian, deny workplace harassment of young women1. What Nandy will actually propose at the meeting, and whether CIISA membership will be made compulsory, is not yet known from this report1.