Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 27
2nd Report - Misogyny in music
Published 30 Jan 2024
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Misogyny in music All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
CIISA has committed to producing an annual report. That report should include an overview on the state of the music industry with respect to levels of discrimination, harassment and abuse and diversity. Reported data should be broken down by protected characteristic. The report should include relevant findings on the adequacy of organisations’ internal reporting processes, support for complainants, training on dealing with incidents of sexual harassment, the safety of women on their premises and any attempts—successful or otherwise—to silence victims of unacceptable behaviour through the use of non-disclosure agreements or similar confidentiality arrangements. Organisations about which CIISA has significant concerns should be named. Events have shown that only by calling out such behaviour will the culture that protects abusers over victims change. (Recommendation, Paragraph 124)
From: Women and Equalities Committee, 2nd Report - Misogyny in music (HC 129), 30 January 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 April 2024 (deadline 10 April 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says everyone should be able to work in the music industry without misogyny and discrimination, but it declines several recommendations on legislation, licensing and parental leave.
- On Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010, the government "has no plans to implement the dual discrimination provision" "at this time", considering Section 14 "unnecessary". On parental leave, there are "currently no plans" to introduce entitlements for self-employed fathers or partners.
- On recording studio licensing, the government "agrees that recording studios should provide a safe environment" but has "no plans at the present time" to introduce new licensing requirements.
- The government "continues to look closely at extending" the time limit for Equality Act claims to an employment tribunal from three to six months, and will "take account of the Committee's report". It also notes a duty on employers to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment from October 2024.
- On non-disclosure agreements, the government "has also committed to bringing forward legislation" so they cannot be enforced if they prevent victims reporting a crime. On a retrospective moratorium, it says there "could be unintended consequences".