On 26th April 2023, our Chief Executive, Caroline Norbury, OBE sent a letter to the Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), responding to an increase in recent news coverage highlighting Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) within the Creative Industries.
Since Summer 2021, Creative UK has been working with the DCMS to convene a series of industry roundtables with representatives from across creative sectors, along with key unions, ACAS, and those with lived experience. The aim is to (a) prevent BHD issues from arising through codes of conduct and training (b) protect those who have faced bullying or harassment by ensuring they are able to easily access independent advice and support, and (c) to monitor industry to assess the impact of initiatives, to ensure effectiveness of support.
Identifying the need for an independent body, CIISA – the Creative Industries Independent Standards Agency, is being established to provide independent help, support and advice and tackle BHD issues in the Creative Industries.
Find out more about our work in BHD and CIISA in the following letter.
Dear Secretary of State,
The coverage of accusations of sexual harassment and bullying in the national press in recent weeks have prompted me to provide a written update on the work ongoing via the Roundtable to Eliminate Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination in the Creative Industries.
This group was established by Rt. Hon. Oliver Dowden CBE, MP and Dame Caroline Dineage MP when they were, respectively, Secretary of State for Culture, Digital and the Creative Industries and Minister for the Creative Industries at DCMS and pulls together UK-wide industry organisations and trade bodies with a view to Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination (BHD) in the Creative Industries.
Chaired by Caroline Norbury, OBE, CEO of Creative UK, the industry body for the cultural sector and creative industries, participants include: British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA); the British Fashion Council (BFC) and the British Fashion Models’ Association, (BFMA); UK Music; the British Phonographic Industry (BPI); the Advertising Association; the Society of London Theatres (SOLT) and UK Theatres; the sector trade unions of Equity; Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU) and the Musicians’ Union (MU); the British Film Institute (BFI), Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) and Spotlight (representing talent agents). Also present – and central to our approach – were individual performers, artists and models who have experienced bullying and harassment, with a view to keeping the experience and views of survivors at the heart of our discussions and solutions.
This engagement has identified several good practices and clear support to those experiencing BHD. However, it has also shown that there are areas that the sectors which compromise the cultural sector and creative industries can go significantly further.
Our first meeting was held in June 2021 where we identified several areas of good practice including: codes of conduct, support helplines and safe spaces, and processes and procedures that ensure new entrants to the workforce are made aware of their rights. However, we also identified five areas which could be improved, which are:
- Gaps – we received consistent evidence that policies and support available to survivors and employers are often limited in scope to a specific profession, sub-sector, or subject area. From the perspective of the workforce, it may not feel that there is comprehensive support available, nor that it is sufficiently independent of vested interests.
- Visibility – we received anecdotal evidence that awareness amongst the cultural sector and creative industry workforce of existing support for BHD is perceived as limited and therefore support that might have been available to individuals was not always drawn upon.
- Impact and effectiveness – we consistently heard that there is understood to be limited evidence on whether existing initiatives are effective, which means that beyond the anecdotal data points, it is currently challenging to determine judge whether BHD is increasing or decreasing.
- Sharing of good practices – sectors such as, music, film and TV, and fashion, demonstrate that while learnings from successful initiatives were shared within sectors or sub-sectors, but not often between them.
- Support for freelancers – whilst most large companies had policies, procedures and protections in place, there remained a lack of support for individuals working as freelancers or contractors.
As a significant business sector, the public, our workforce and governments across the UK expect the creative industries to deliver on the duty of care for all employed and contracted, including demonstrating and enacting a zero-tolerance approach regarding BHD. In June 2021 the BHD Roundtable participants agreed to three key principles of Prevent; Protect and Monitor to guide our work to collectively reduce instances of bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
This includes:
- Prevent – proactively ensuring there are in place policies and guidance that cover all relevant aspects of BHD and ensuring that all people working in the creative industries are aware of them.
- Protect – reactively ensuring when problems arise that those working in the creative industries have access to independent advice and support which they can draw on to help them.
- Monitoring – knowing and being able to demonstrate how effective the actions we take as an industry are in addressing BHD, whether through surveys or collecting data on complaints and whether they are resolved.
Since our first meeting in June 2021, the Creative Industries Roundtable on BHD has:
- Ensured all sub sectors represented have established and published codes of practice, collated and published information on training and support to prevent bullying and harassment; consolidated information on support available; begun a research programme to synthesise ongoing monitoring approaches, with a view to eventually being able to report trends and progress on the status of BHD in the sector.
- Agreed unanimously on the need for an independent body to provide independent help, support and advice and tackle BHD issues in the creative industries, culminating in the establishment of CIISA – the Creative Industries Independent Standards Agency (CIISA).
CIISA, (formerly known as the Independent Standards Authority – ISA) has now reached a point of maturity where the company has been established, with Dame Heather Rabbatts as Chairperson, a business plan developed collaboratively with the support of the sector and consultation on proposals will be forthcoming in June 2023.
The CIISA set up team has an interim CEO in place, and we have been delighted by the groundswell of support from Film, TV, Music and Theatre. All UK broadcasters committed to CIISA with both financial and in principle support in Summer 2022. In addition, the lead body for Theatre – SOLT and UK Theatre – made their public commitment to CIISA in January 2023, followed by UK Music on behalf of the music sector in early March 2023.
To date, over 50 cultural organisations have added their voices, with wide ranging support including the British Film Commission and the BPI, Director’s UK and The Production Guild, BAFTA, BFI, Advertising Association and British Fashion Models Association; but crucially, significant numbers of freelancers believe CIISA is a necessary stride forward for workplace safety within the UK Creative Industries.
We note that CIISA is referenced in the forthcoming DCMS Sector Vision and we believe it is important, particularly in the light of recent events, that this new initiative is fully reflected in this document.
The journey of culture change is a long and arduous one and we will only get there by deep and detailed engagement building trust amongst ourselves and the businesses and workforces we represent; creating an environment whereby people feel able to speak up, where unacceptable behaviour is challenged and where industry partners work together to come up with long term sustainable solutions that change culture.
I hope this gives you, Secretary of State, a clear overview and update on the progress made and the long term plans we are making to address bullying, harassment and discrimination in the creative industries. We know this isn’t going to change over-night and will require us all to put time, effort, and resource into it. We are grateful for the support of your predecessors and look forward to engaging with you further to hear your own thoughts on the mechanisms and policies the UK Government has its disposal to help to embed long term culture change, and also to update you on our progress later this year. It is our hope that you will provide your leadership and support as we continue this journey.
Kind Regards
Caroline Norbury, OBE
Creative UK, Chief Executive