Creative industries held to account after misconduct rows

Standards of behaviour will be monitored by independent body, reports Rachael Healy

- Rachael Healy

New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK's creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d'Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address "power imbalances".

The guidelines call on organisations to create reporting mechanisms and ways to learn from previous scandals, as well as safe and inclusive working environments.

Jen Smith, chief executive of the new body, said the standards could be adopted widely in commissioning agreements, contracts and awards criteria. "Then no one can say, 'I didn't know' or 'It wasn't clear," she said.

The CIISA was created by Dame Heather Rabbatts, who saw the need for an independent body to hold all creative industries to account. Rabbatts had founded Time's Up UK in 2018 in the wake of the #Me Too movement. Smith was previously director of culture and inclusion at the British Film Institute and in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal helped draw up a set of standards to combat harassment in the screen industries.