L51 Response Not Accepted Self-assessed

Repeal Procedural Provisions

Recommendation

The procedural provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 with special application to journalism in: (a) section 32(4) and (5) (b) sections 44 to 46 inclusive should be repealed.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report, the UK Government did not accept this recommendation, with the Prime Minister expressing concern in November 2012 that repealing these provisions could curb press freedom and impact investigative journalism. According to the Data Protection Act 2018, the Act subsequently retained a broad journalism exemption (Schedule 2, Part 5) and did not repeal the specified procedural provisions.
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
Not Accepted
Not Accepted UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012: "I am instinctively concerned about this proposal. There is a real danger of this recommendation being used to curb freedom of the press. We need to consider this very carefully - particularly the impact this could have on investigative journalism." The Data Protection Act 2018 retained a broad journalism exemption (Schedule 2, Part 5) and did not implement this specific recommendation. 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.

Not Implemented
23 May 2018
UK Parliament legislation

The procedural provisions with special application to journalism were not repealed as Leveson recommended. The DPA 2018 maintained equivalent protections for journalistic processing.

View detailed findings

The special procedural provisions for journalism were not repealed.

Data Protection Act 2018 View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
UK Government Primary
Themes & Tags
Personal data privacy risks Discriminatory media reporting oversight Data Protection Dpa Journalism Legislation
Recommendation age 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago