Standards Code Responsibility
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.
- IPSO operates under the Editors' Code of Practice, maintained by the Editors' Code of Practice Committee. The IPSO board has ultimate responsibility for adopting the code (IPSO Editors' Code of Practice, accessed March 2026).
- The Editors' Code Committee includes serving editors alongside independent members, which Leveson permitted for the advisory code committee but not for the board itself.
- IMPRESS operates its own Standards Code, over which its board has full responsibility (IMPRESS, Our Regulatory Scheme, accessed March 2026).
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 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.