BBC Boss Matt Brittin & Industry Leaders Set To Attend Culture Secretary’s Emergency Meeting Next Week Following Brand & Walliams Scandals

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Director General Matt Brittin is one of a number of industry bosses who will attend an emergency meeting convened by the UK Culture Secretary next week in the wake of the Russell Brand, David Walliams and MAFS scandals. Nandy will tell a meeting of leaders that if their response to the recent allegations is not robust enough, she may consider introducing legislation to force them to fund the just-launched CIISA anonymous whistleblowing service. Earlier today, she told parliament: “I want to be clear that if protections are insufficient, the government will not hesitate to take further action. For too long, too many people have had to choose between their careers and safety. People must be safe in their jobs, whistleblowers must be protected and those who abuse their position must no longer be able to hide.” Deadline is told invitations to attend Nandy’s meeting landed with the big broadcasters yesterday. BBC DG Brittin will almost definitely attend, we understand. Others are considering who will attend from their organizations but it would be no surprise if they send their most senior individual, especially if Brittin goes. Earlier this week, Brittin emailed all BBC employees with title “Building the culture we want” to say “there is still more to do to engage with staff and represent their views” to try and stamp these problems out. He said he will be speaking to trade unions about changes that could be made immediately and in the next charter. Deadline understands Phillipa Childs, who runs broadcasting union Bectu, will attend Nandy’s meeting. Watch on Deadline We are told the Nandy meeting could happen as soon as Monday. She has made cleaning up the TV industry’s bad behavior problem one of the cornerstones of her time as Culture Secretary and has been enraged by the latest high-profile examples. Brand was sentenced earlier this week to 10-and-a-half years in prison for rape and sexual assault and the TV industry has been heavily implicated, with one of the women he sexually assaulted working for Channel 4 at the time. Earlier this week, The Guardian and ITV News published allegations against of sexually exploitative activity against women and girls from Walliams, allegations that he denies. Meanwhile, Channel 4 axed Married at First Sight last week after rape allegations. Nandy’s idea is that the big networks and production groups could be forced to fund CIISA each year. This is not a new argument. Deadline revealed nearly two years ago, before CIISA was up and running properly, that Nandy was considering legislation that would force UK broadcasters to regularly fund the body, which emerged from the Noel Clarke scandal and Time’s Up UK movement. The whistleblowing service opened a few weeks ago in earnest but regular donations are required to keep it running, especially if there is an influx of complaints following these high-profile allegations. The body would also like to expand its scope at some point to areas like arbitration. CIISA representatives have been invited to Nandy’s meeting and we understand CIISA will host an event in parliament later this month. CIISA has indicated that running costs would be around £1.5M ($2M) in its first year, rising to just more than £2M the following one to fund its small team and operations. The body has floated a funding model based on organizations paying an ongoing yearly contribution of a maximum 0.1% of their annual turnover. Nandy and other senior government ministers are also focused on non-disclosure agreements, with Bridget Phillipson, the UK’s womens and equalities minister, telling Sky News such agreements should not be “abused in order to silence women.” All this has contributed to a feeling within the industry that enough is enough. An open letter has been doing the rounds, signed by dozens of actors, writers and directors, which is titled “Let’s make this a turning point” and urges industry action. “We call on every union, every company and every industry organisation to stop enabling a systemic cycle of abuse, whether through unconscious inaction or deliberate distraction,” it reads. “Review your processes. Protect those who speak out. Become less offended by your inaction being named than you are by the actions you are being asked to recognise.”