L7 Response Accepted in Part AI-assessed

Standards Code Responsibility

Recommendation

The standards code must ultimately be the responsibility of, and adopted by, the Board, advised by a Code Committee which may comprise both independent members of the Board and serving editors.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to IPSO (27 February 2025), the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has an Editors' Code of Practice Committee responsible for maintaining the standards code, with ultimate responsibility resting with the IPSO Board, and the code is regularly reviewed and updated. According to gov.uk (29 November 2012), the Prime Minister accepted the principles of independent self-regulation, including a standards code and an independent board, in his statement of 29 November 2012.
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.

Good Progress
27 Feb 2025
IPSO Other

IPSO has an Editors' Code of Practice Committee that maintains the code, with the Board having ultimate responsibility. The code is regularly reviewed and updated.

View detailed findings

A standards code exists and is maintained, broadly meeting this recommendation.

IPSO Editors' Code of Practice View Source
Source
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
Responsible Bodies
Press Primary
Recommendation age 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago