Recommendation 10

HM Government Deferred

Our creative industries are a true British success story that are consumed and adored across the world. Today, modern audiences care as much about how creative content is made, as the creative content itself. In the wake of the Women and Equalities Committee’s Misogyny in Music report, alongside many high-profile issues shining a light on the scale and seriousness of harmful behaviour across the wider creative industries, it is essential to give assurance to our creative industry workforce and the public that those who make the music, films, tv and theatre that we all enjoy are kept safe at work. CIISA is a significant step towards providing that critical assurance. CIISA has considerable industry backing across the creative industries to help establish consistently safe and inclusive workplaces that supports and protects the professional talent that makes the UK creative industries a world-class sector. CIISA has arisen from a clear need to both address behaviours of concern and pro-actively set standards so there is clarity of what is expected and a single point of accountability for where creative industry professionals can go to if this is not met. We fully support the conclusions given in the Misogyny in Music report. The distressing evidence given by women facing discrimination, harassment and abuse in the music industry clearly demonstrates more needs to be done not just within the music sector, but across the creative industries as a whole, demonstrating that the principles and aims of CIISA are required now more than ever. We also welcome the clear endorsement and support for CIISA cited within specific recommendations, alongside how we consider CIISA can have an important role to help deliver in other areas. We outline our response to these recommendations below. CIISA’s Formal Response to the Recommendations in Misogyny in Music report We expect the music industry to act on our recommendations and call on industry bodies to respond to the recommendations relevant to their work. (Recommendation, Paragraph 5) We welcome and support all the recommendations made in the report and will act on each recommendation relevant to our work. In light of the evidence given in this report, we anticipate that the music sector will fully support the establishment and development of CIISA and will commit to funding us to the required amount set out in our tariff structure, to enable us to play our role in keeping our talented workforce safe. Music colleges, conservatoires, and other educational settings need to do more to address the gendering of instruments, roles, and genres and improve the visibility of and support for female role models. The Government and industry bodies should offer increased, funded and targeted opportunities for women and girls to study subjects and to engage in training in areas of the music industry that remain male-dominated and where women are made to feel unwelcome. (Recommendation, Paragraph 16) We support this recommendation. We will look to ensure that CIISA is socialised early in people’s careers in music colleges, conservatoires and other educational settings should it ever be necessary to contact us. Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010 which provides protection from discrimination on the basis of a combination of two relevant protected characteristics presents a limited understanding of how overlapping characteristics are used to discriminate against individuals and prevent the most vulnerable from bringing harassment claims based on their actual experience. The Government should bring section 14 of the Equality Act into force and consider whether an amendment to that section is required to better protect those facing intersectional inequality. Businesses are already aware of their responsibilities to equality of treatment under the Equality Act; bringing section 14 into force would impose minimal additional burdens. (Recommendation, Paragraph 35) We support the report’s call to bring into force Section 14 of the Equality Act highlighting the importance of recognising intersectional inequalities faced by colleagues working in the creative industries. We will further ensure this is an area that is addressed within CIISA’s Standards Framework. Although female representation in the music industry is improving, particularly at senior levels, progress is not uniform and gender imbalance remains entrenched in certain areas. The music industry and government should increase investment in diverse talent and make more funding available to the schemes that support it. Pathways to careers for women working in the sector must improve, particularly in key gatekeeping roles such as A&R and other male-dominated areas including sound engineering and production. (Recommendation, Paragraph 42) CIISA has a role to play in areas where there is under representation. We will continue to actively engage with organisations like the Music Producers Guild in terms of broadening the inclusivity of their w