L57 Response Not Accepted Self-assessed

Reconstitute ICO as Commission

Recommendation

The opportunity should be taken to consider amending the Data Protection Act 1998 formally to reconstitute the Information Commissioner's Office as an Information Commission, led by a Board of Commissioners with suitable expertise drawn from the worlds of regulation, public administration, law and business, and active consideration should be given in that context to the desirability of including on the Board a Commissioner from the media sector.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The UK Government did not accept this recommendation, with the Prime Minister stating in November 2012 that he was concerned it could curb press freedom. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) was not reconstituted as an Information Commission led by a Board of Commissioners, and the Information Commissioner remains a single office-holder, as confirmed by independent evidence from February 2025. No Commissioner from the media sector was appointed.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 24 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
27 Feb 2025
Government Other

The ICO was not reconstituted as an Information Commission led by a Board of Commissioners. The Information Commissioner remains a single office-holder. No Commissioner from the media sector was appointed.

View detailed findings

Not implemented. The ICO remains a single Commissioner office, not a Board.

ICO governance structure 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 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago