L56 Response Accepted in Part

ICO Consult with CPS

Recommendation

A new duty should be introduced (whether formal or informal) for the Information Commissioner's Office to consult with the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the exercise of its powers to undertake criminal proceedings.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The Data Protection Act 2018 does not include a formal statutory duty for the ICO to consult with the Crown Prosecution Service before exercising criminal prosecution powers (Data Protection Act 2018, legislation.gov.uk).
- The ICO has published a Regulatory Action Policy which sets out how it exercises its enforcement powers, including prosecution, but no published evidence of a formal or informal duty to consult with the CPS on section 170 prosecutions has been identified to March 2026.
- No further published evidence on this specific recommendation has been identified.
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that data protection proposals required careful consideration. The Data Protection Act 2018 included some provisions implementing Leveson recommendations on data protection and journalism. 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 progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Reasonable Progress
27 Feb 2025
ICO / CPS Other

The ICO and CPS have working arrangements on prosecution matters. However no formal statutory duty to consult was introduced. The relationship operates on an informal basis.

View detailed findings

Informal consultation arrangements exist but no formal statutory duty was introduced.

ICO enforcement approach View Source
Source
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
Responsible Bodies
UK Government Primary
Recommendation age 13.5 yrs
Last formal update 4931 days ago