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L32

Multiple Regulatory Bodies

Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: UK Government

Government responsePrime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street: Accepted in part (Mar 2013)

DeliveryNo statement from UK Government found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

It should be possible for the recognition body to recognise more than one regulatory body, should more than one seek recognition and meet the criteria, although this is not an outcome to be advocated and, should it be necessary for that step to be taken, would represent a failure on the part of the industry.

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 enabling the recognition body to recognise more than one regulatory body. In March 2013, David Cameron stated that creating a recognition body to achieve the Leveson principles would proceed through a royal charter rather than statutory regulation, without addressing multiple regulatory bodies (David Cameron response, Mar 2013). In February 2026, the Press Recognition Panel found that the recognition framework permits it to recognise more than one qualifying regulator (Press Recognition Panel, Feb 2026). The panel noted that Impress became the initial recognised regulator in 2016 and remains the single body to meet all requirements, confirmed across three cyclical reviews (Press Recognition Panel, Feb 2026).

Sources

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.

Report-level response context

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.

Government response

●Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street · Accepted in part · 18 Mar 2013

Words of: David Cameron, Prime Minister, speech opening the House of Commons emergency debate on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, 18 March 2013 (HC Deb vol 560 cols 632-634)

As I believe we have shown today, statutory regulation of our media, and statutory regulation to create a recognition body, is not necessary to achieve the Leveson principles. We can do it—indeed we will do it—via a royal charter.

Response document: Royal Charter on Press Conduct (House of Commons emergency debate)

Site note: The Prime Minister's speech opening the House of Commons emergency debate on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, 18 March 2013, as recorded in the Official Report (HC Deb vol 560, cols 632 to 634). The GOV.UK copy of the speech is the script written before it was delivered; its wording differs, and one of its passages is not in the Official Report at all, so the site quotes the record. He speaks for the Government; the site files his words under the Prime Minister's Office.

Site note: The Prime Minister gives this passage once, for the report's proposals for statutory recognition of a press regulator as a whole (col 633). The same words are recorded on recommendations 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 and 33.

Delivery

No statement on delivery from UK Government has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

Published evidence

●Press Recognition Panel · 24 Feb 2026

Summary by this site of the published finding

The recognition framework permits the Press Recognition Panel to recognise more than one qualifying regulator, although only IMPRESS is currently recognised.

Read the finding in fullIn 2016, Impress became the first – and remains the only – regulator to be recognised as meeting all of those requirements. Since then, three cyclical reviews have independently confirmed that it continues to meet them.

10th Annual Report on the Recognition SystemView source →

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.