Recommendation L70: Civil Justice Council Damages Review
From An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, published 29 November 2012.
Recommendation
The Civil Justice Council should consider the level of damages in privacy, breach of confidence and data protection cases, being prepared to take evidence (from the Information Commissioner, the media and others) and thereafter to make recommendations on the appropriate level of damages for distress in such cases. How the matter is then taken forward will ultimately be for the courts to consider.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended that the Civil Justice Council review media damages for distress. In an April 2013 written answer, Jeremy Wright, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, stated that the council would consider damages awarded for certain media torts following its work on costs protection (Jeremy Wright, Apr 2013). The Minister did not mention taking evidence from the Information Commissioner or other parties, and the answer did not specify data protection (Jeremy Wright, Apr 2013). The Minister affirmed that how the issue is taken forward would ultimately be for the courts to consider (Jeremy Wright, Apr 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
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Recommendation context
Site note: No government response to this recommendation was published at the time of the report. The Information Commissioner's response to the report comments on the report's recommendations to the Ministry of Justice; those comments are the Commissioner's, not the Government's, and the Commissioner is not the body this recommendation is addressed to. The Ministry of Justice's written answer of 25 April 2013 refers to it and is recorded as an update. Searched for this site between 23 and 25 September 2026, among other sources: the Prime Minister's statements to the House of Commons of 29 November 2012 and 18 March 2013, the Government's response to the consultation on the Leveson Inquiry and its implementation (1 March 2018), the Information Commissioner's response to the report (7 January 2013), and Parliament's written questions and answers that mention Leveson.
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
Ministry of Justice says in progress (25 April 2013)
Recommendations 69 and 70 relate to the level of damages awarded for certain media torts. The Civil Justice Council is to consider this area as recommended by Lord Justice Leveson following its work on costs protection. As Lord Justice Leveson indicated, how this is then taken forward will ultimately be a matter for the courts to consider.
From: Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry (Commons written answer), Jeremy Wright, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
Site note: The source gives this passage once, for recommendations 69 and 70 together. The same words are recorded on L69 and L70.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Ministry of Justice
Delivery statement