Recommendation L32: Multiple Regulatory Bodies
From An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, published 29 November 2012.
Recommendation
It should be possible for the recognition body to recognise more than one regulatory body, should more than one seek recognition and meet the criteria, although this is not an outcome to be advocated and, should it be necessary for that step to be taken, would represent a failure on the part of the industry.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended enabling the recognition body to recognise more than one regulatory body. In March 2013, David Cameron stated that creating a recognition body to achieve the Leveson principles would proceed through a royal charter rather than statutory regulation, without addressing multiple regulatory bodies (David Cameron response, Mar 2013). In February 2026, the Press Recognition Panel found that the recognition framework permits it to recognise more than one qualifying regulator (Press Recognition Panel, Feb 2026). The panel noted that Impress became the initial recognised regulator in 2016 and remains the single body to meet all requirements, confirmed across three cyclical reviews (Press Recognition Panel, Feb 2026).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
As I believe we have shown today, statutory regulation of our media, and statutory regulation to create a recognition body, is not necessary to achieve the Leveson principles. We can do it—indeed we will do it—via a royal charter.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: The Prime Minister's speech opening the House of Commons emergency debate on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, 18 March 2013, as recorded in the Official Report (HC Deb vol 560, cols 632 to 634). The GOV.UK copy of the speech is the script written before it was delivered; its wording differs, and one of its passages is not in the Official Report at all, so the site quotes the record. He speaks for the Government; the site files his words under the Prime Minister's Office.
Site note: The Prime Minister gives this passage once, for the report's proposals for statutory recognition of a press regulator as a whole (col 633). The same words are recorded on recommendations 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 and 33.
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 UK Government has been found in the sources searched (last checked 24 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Published evidence
Published findings referenced by inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether the finding is independent or government self-reported. Each finding is this site's summary of what the source found, with a link to the source; this site does not add its own progress rating.
Summary by this site of the published finding
The recognition framework permits the Press Recognition Panel to recognise more than one qualifying regulator, although only IMPRESS is currently recognised.
View detailed findings
In 2016, Impress became the first – and remains the only – regulator to be recognised as meeting all of those requirements. Since then, three cyclical reviews have independently confirmed that it continues to meet them.
Source
Responsible bodies
Who has spoken
- Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street
Response