Ciisa has just named leading lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy KC its chair, to take over from Dame Heather.
When someone makes a complaint, the organisation will offer advice, dispute resolution, mediation and help take matters to police if appropriate. In some cases, it will launch its own investigations.
In advance of its launch, Ciisa is drawing up a set of standards for behaviour so it can judge whether someone has crossed the line.
But its powers will be limited. It is a voluntary regulator – it has backing from most major players in the industry and the government, but it won’t have powers to impose financial, disciplinary or criminal sanctions.
“We would signpost appropriately to the most relevant place in terms of accountability,” Smith said.
“But our language is about recommendations, about improvement, about proportionate accountability. That’s the tone and the language of Ciisa.”
The House of Commons Women and Equalities committee’s report welcomed Ciisa, but said it is “not a panacea for all of the problems in the industry” and “time will tell whether it has the powers required to drive the changes needed”.
And when it launches, the body is likely to discover the true scale of bad behaviour in the industry, only a fraction of which hits the headlines. It could be swamped.
“We’re a new entity. The reality is we’re modelling very carefully for all eventualities,” Smith said.
“But because we are new and unique, it’s difficult to ascertain the scale of what’s happening to people. That’s why the establishment of Ciisa is so important. We’re doing our due diligence incredibly carefully on set-up.
“We’re making sure all the technical foundations for our operating model and so on are absolutely sound so that we are prepared when we do start to bring on our services for what could be a large volume of reporting or issues brought to us or seeking advice, and we will make sure that we are prepared.”
