Independent Board Governance
Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: Press
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
An independent self regulatory body should be governed by an independent Board. In order to ensure the independence of the body, the Chair and members of the Board must be appointed in a genuinely open, transparent and independent way, without any influence from industry or Government.
Leveson Inquiry, An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · 29 Nov 2012 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- IPSO, established in September 2014, states that its board is appointed through an open process and includes a majority of independent members with no serving editors (IPSO, About Us, accessed March 2026).
- IMPRESS, recognised by the Press Recognition Panel in October 2016, states that its board appointments fully meet the Royal Charter criteria for independence (IMPRESS, Our Regulatory Scheme, accessed March 2026).
- The Press Recognition Panel stated in its 2024-25 Annual Report that IPSO has not applied for recognition under the Royal Charter, meaning its governance arrangements have not been independently assessed against the Leveson criteria (PRP Annual Report 2024-25, September 2025).
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted "the principles that Lord Justice Leveson has laid out" for independent self-regulation, including "an independent board, a standards code, an arbitration service and the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose million-pound fines." However, he rejected statutory underpinning, expressing "serious concerns and misgivings" about crossing "the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land." The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press was granted on 30 October 2013, establishing the Press Recognition Panel as the recognition body. IPSO was established in September 2014 but has not sought Royal Charter recognition. IMPRESS was recognised by the PRP in October 2016. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report
UK Government · 29 Nov 2012 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 27 Feb 2025 · IPSO / IMPRESS IPSO (est. 2014) has an independent board with appointments made through an open process. However IPSO has not sought Royal Charter recognition from the Press Recognition Panel and met only 12 of 38 Leveson criteria when created. IMPRESS (Royal Charter-recognised since October 2016) fully meets this recommendation but no major national newspaper is a member. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.