Speeches by Leadbeater.

“Is that done on a club-by-club basis, or would you say there is an industry standard?”

“Thank you for coming in today. I am an MP up in Yorkshire, so I am quite interested in looking at the regional story and what it looks like for comedians who are travelling, expenses and so on, and where you find the talent in each region. We do not have time to do it today, but maybe that is something we can pick up a…”

“I suppose it depends on where the abuse, harassment or safety issues are coming from. Is it from other people within the circuit, or is it from the audience? Where is that coming from, and what do you do? In terms of staff, particularly, do you have training for staff on how to deal with that?”

“That is interesting. To what extent do you co-ordinate standards of behaviour with other venues? I suppose it feeds into the question about what support could look like for the sector as a whole. Is there any co-ordination?”

“Do you think part of that is because of the perception that comedy is not a proper job; you are just turning up to tell a few jokes?”

“Presumably, if it is serious enough, you would go to the police.”

“I should know the answer to this but I do not. Do we have an all-party parliamentary group for comedy?”

“Without naming anyone, are there any comedians that you avoid booking because you have concerns about how they have behaved towards women?”

“I would disagree on the APPG. You need people who are very committed to doing it and want to get stuff done, but that is my experience.”

“Just talk me through your venues’ processes. We hope it does not happen, but when it does, what processes do you have in place to deal with complaints of misconduct, and what consequences can you bring to perpetrators?”

“I like the sound of her. Kristen, do you want to add anything to that?”

“That is really good to know, and that was my next question: how are the Government co-ordinating with Metro Mayors to ensure that consistent quality and coverage of regional ecosystems actually takes place? What does that relationship look like with Mayors, local authorities, and of course MPs?”

“Thank you all for your contributions today. I do not expect you to comment further but I would like to express my support for the comments that Alex and Christine have made around the delineation between the macro problem and then the specific problems. I understand what you are saying and the reassurance that, “Of cou…”

“It is brilliant that you have done that, but presumably there are some limitations to it; there are certain things you can and cannot do. Tell us a little about that, Nina.”

“Nina, you were nodding along. It feels as though there is a very different course of action for the victim versus the person who has been accused of doing these things.”

“It sounds as though there is a gap that you are trying to fill but you need more resources to do it.”

“I am very sorry you had to go through that.”

“I am sure there are people who would say that we do not need any more comedians in Parliament, but you are very welcome today. Thank you for your insights, some of which I know are very personal. I am delighted that we are doing this session, which came as a result of a conversation I had with Lu Jackson, the founder o…”

“What was that expression you used, whisper networks?”

“Partly because of that, do you think people working in the comedy sector feel they can report incidents of sexual abuse and harassment?”