Investigation Powers
Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: Press
Government responsePrime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street: Accepted in part (Nov 2012)
DeliveryNo statement from Press found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Board, being an independent self-regulatory body, should have authority to examine issues on its own initiative and have sufficient powers to carry out investigations both into suspected serious or systemic breaches of the code and failures to comply with directions of the Board. Those who subscribe must be required to cooperate with any such investigation.
Leveson Inquiry, An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · 29 Nov 2012 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended that an independent press self-regulatory body have authority to conduct investigations. In a statement to the House of Commons on the Leveson Inquiry report in November 2012, David Cameron, Prime Minister, accepted the Leveson principles and said the onus was on the press to implement them, though he did not mention investigation powers (David Cameron response, Nov 2012). The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press, granted by the Privy Council in October 2013, provided that an independent self-regulatory board should have authority to examine issues on its own initiative, investigate serious or systemic code breaches, and require subscribers to cooperate (Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press, Oct 2013).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 2 Oct 2026.
Report-level response context
Government response
●Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street · Accepted in part · 29 Nov 2012
In volume IV of the report, Lord Justice Leveson sets out proposals for independent self-regulation organised by the media. He details the key “requirements” that an independent self-regulatory body should meet, including independence of appointments and funding, a standards code, an arbitration service, and a speedy complaint-handling mechanism. Crucially, it must have the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose up to million-pound fines. These are the Leveson principles. They are the central recommendations of the report. If they can be put in place, we truly will have a regulatory system that delivers public confidence, justice for the victims, and a step change in the way the press is regulated in our country. I accept these principles, and I hope that the whole House will come in behind them. The onus should now be on the press to implement them—and implement them radically.
Response document: Leveson Inquiry (House of Commons statement)
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Press has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
●Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023) · 1 Mar 2018
A key part of the Coalition Government’s response to the recommendations in his report was the establishment of a new system of voluntary press self-regulation enshrined in a Royal Charter.
●UK Government · 30 Oct 2013
18. The Board, being an independent self-regulatory body, should have authority to examine issues on its own initiative and have sufficient powers to carry out investigations both into suspected serious or systemic breaches of the code and failures to comply with directions of the Board. The investigations process must be simple and credible and those who subscribe must be required to cooperate with any such investigation.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.