Recommendation L25: ICO and Regulatory Membership
From An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, published 29 November 2012.
Recommendation
In any reconsideration of the powers of the Information Commissioner (or replacement body), power should be given to that body to determine that membership of a satisfactory regulatory body, which required appropriate governance and transparency standards from its members in relation to compliance with data protection legislation and good practice, should be taken into account when considering whether it is necessary or proportionate to take any steps in relation to a subscriber to that body.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended taking regulatory body membership into account during data protection enforcement. In January 2013, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) acknowledged "the importance of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations about the recognition the ICO might be able to give" (Information Commissioner’s Office response, Jan 2013). The response does not mention statutory powers or considering membership when taking enforcement steps (Information Commissioner’s Office response, Jan 2013).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
We also acknowledge the importance of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations about the recognition the ICO might be able to give
Recommendation context
Site note: The Information Commissioner’s response of 7 January 2013 (page 9) acknowledges the importance of the proposed recognition role. It leaves the ICO’s wider role to Government and Parliament and describes resource and policy implications. This is a qualified acknowledgment, recorded as noted; it does not establish acceptance of the specific statutory power or its implementation. The archived full response was checked on 30 September 2026.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
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.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Information Commissioner has been found in the sources searched (last checked 24 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Information Commissioner
Response