Chair Appointment Panel
The appointment of the Chair of the Board should be made by an appointment panel. The selection of that panel must itself be conducted in an appropriately independent way and must, itself, be independent of the industry and of Government.
- IPSO states that its chair is appointed through an appointments panel process. The current chair, Lord Faulks KC, was appointed in 2020 following an open recruitment process (IPSO, About Us, accessed March 2026).
- IMPRESS states that its appointments process meets the Royal Charter criteria, with an independent panel selecting the chair (IMPRESS, Our Regulatory Scheme, accessed March 2026).
- The two regulatory bodies operate separate, uncoordinated appointment processes rather than the single independent process Leveson envisioned.
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted in Part
Response
Accepted in PartThe Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted "the principles that Lord Justice Leveson has laid out" for independent self-regulation, including "an independent board, a standards code, an arbitration service and the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose million-pound fines." However, he rejected statutory underpinning, expressing "serious concerns and misgivings" about crossing "the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land." The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press was granted on 30 October 2013, establishing the Press Recognition Panel as the recognition body. IPSO was established in September 2014 but has not sought Royal Charter recognition. IMPRESS was recognised by the PRP in October 2016. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report
Published Evidence
Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.
IPSO's chair is appointed through an appointments panel process. IMPRESS's appointments process fully meets the Royal Charter criteria. However the two parallel systems mean the recommendation's intent (a single credible independent system) has not been achieved.
View detailed findings
Appointment processes exist at both IPSO and IMPRESS but the fragmented regulatory landscape undermines the intent of a single credible independent system.