L5 Response Accepted in Part AI-assessed

Board Member Composition

Recommendation

The members of the Board should be appointed by the same appointment panel that appoints the Chair, together with the Chair (once appointed), and should: (a) be appointed by a fair and open process; (b) comprise a majority of people who are independent of the press; (c) include a sufficient number of people with experience of the industry who may include former editors and senior or academic journalists; (d) not include any serving editor; and (e) not include any serving member of the House of Commons or any member of the Government.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the available evidence, both IPSO and IMPRESS have boards composed of a majority of independent members, and neither includes serving editors, aligning with the recommendation for independent board composition. According to the available evidence, while IMPRESS fully meets the Royal Charter criteria for board composition, IPSO's board composition has faced some scrutiny.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The 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

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Reasonable Progress
27 Feb 2025
IPSO / IMPRESS Other

Both regulators have boards with majority independent members and no serving editors. IMPRESS fully meets the Royal Charter criteria. IPSO's board composition has been questioned.

View detailed findings

Board composition broadly meets the recommendation at both regulators but neither covers the full press landscape.

PRP Annual Report on Recognition System, February… View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Press Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Press Regulation Independent Regulator Appointments Governance
Recommendation age 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago