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L67

Sentencing Guidelines for Data Offences

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

Government responseNo response yet

DeliveryDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023) states no delivery position (May 2018)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

On the basis that the provisions of s77-78 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 are brought into effect, so that increased sentencing powers are available for breaches of s55 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Secretary of State for Justice should use the power vested in him by s124(1)(a)(i) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to invite the Sentencing Council of England and Wales to prepare guidelines in relation to data protection offences (including computer misuse).

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 asked the government to request sentencing guidelines for data protection offences. In May 2018, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office stated that sections 77 to 78 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 were never commenced and were omitted (Data Protection Act 2018: Explanatory Notes, May 2018). The departments explained that these provisions were no longer needed because offences, defences, and penalties were set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 (Data Protection Act 2018: Explanatory Notes, May 2018). An invitation for the Sentencing Council of England and Wales to prepare guidelines is not mentioned in the sources (Data Protection Act 2018: Explanatory Notes, May 2018).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 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

●No formal government response recorded

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Site note: No government response to this recommendation was found. 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. 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.

Delivery

●Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023) states no delivery position · 23 May 2018

884 Paragraph 150 omits sections 77 to 78 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. These sections introduced an order-making power to increase the maximum penalty for the offence of unlawfully obtaining data under section 55 of the 1998 Act and defences for journalistic activity. The provisions were never commenced. They are no longer needed because the offence of unlawfully obtaining data, defences and penalties are now set out in sections 170 and 196 of this Act.

From: Data Protection Act 2018: Explanatory Notes

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.