L12 Response Accepted in Part AI-assessed

Complaint Decision Responsibility

Recommendation

Decisions on complaints should be the ultimate responsibility of the Board, advised by complaints handling officials to whom appropriate delegations may be made.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the official government response (29 November 2012), the government accepted the principle of board responsibility for complaint decisions in 2012. According to independent evidence (27 February 2025), at the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), complaint decisions are the ultimate responsibility of its Complaints Committee, which is a committee of the Board; IMPRESS similarly assigns board-level responsibility for complaints.
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 / IMPRESS Other

Complaint decisions are the ultimate responsibility of the IPSO Complaints Committee (a committee of the Board). IMPRESS similarly has board-level responsibility for complaints.

View detailed findings

Board-level responsibility for complaints exists at both regulators.

IPSO complaints governance 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