Britain's culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, said on Sunday that sexual abuse in the media industry is probably still happening, speaking after Russell Brand's conviction for rape and sexual assault¹.

On the BBC programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Nandy said she could not, as culture secretary, say the problem was not occurring today and that she would wager that it is¹.

Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault after a four-week trial, with allegations from six women covering 1999 to 2009, the BBC reported¹.

Nandy said that since she entered government, many people in the industry had contacted her to allege that things had happened to them, including people from the BBC¹.

She said she did not see that much had changed in how media institutions and other parts of public life, including politics, treat women who come forward with abuse allegations¹.

Nandy pointed to a lack of protection, a heavy cost for those who speak up, power imbalances and short-term contracts, and said, "Time is up, it really is time for the media industry to take this seriously"¹.

She described the BBC as an exemplar for joining the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, a body meant to protect whistleblowers, and urged other organisations to do the same¹.

The BBC said it had been approached for comment on Nandy's interview¹.

After Brand's conviction, a BBC spokesperson said there could be no place for the abuse of power and that anyone who suffered harm should be able to report it and be heard, the BBC reported¹.

The corporation restated an apology to staff who felt they could not raise concerns about Brand's behaviour when he worked at the BBC between 2006 and 2008 because he was seen as too influential¹.

Channel 4, which aired Big Brother-related programmes when Brand was a presenter, said it recognised the profound impact of the crimes, according to the BBC¹.

Reuters published a parallel dispatch whose headline said Nandy described an ongoing problem with sexual abuse in the media industry; that page could not be read in full here².