Home / Inquiries / Leveson Inquiry / L80
← L79 L81 →
L80

ACPO Post-employment Restrictions

Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: National Police Chiefs Council, Police

Government responseUK Government: Accepted (Mar 2018)

DeliveryNo statement from National Police Chiefs Council or Police found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

Consideration should be given to the terms upon which ACPO rank officers are appointed and, in particular, whether these terms should include some limitation upon the nature of any employment within or by the media that can be undertaken without the approval of the relevant authority for a period of 12 months following the cessation of the appointment.

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 considering 12-month post-employment media work restrictions for senior police officers. In May 2024, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, stated in a written answer that recommendations on the police and the press had been accepted by the government, the College of Policing, and the former Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and that all had been addressed (Lord Sharpe of Epsom, May 2024). The department had accepted the recommendation in February 2013, noting that it would work on implementation with police and crime commissioners and ACPO (Home Office, Feb 2013).

Sources

Home Office, Feb 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

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

●UK Government · Accepted · 1 Mar 2018

Words of: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Government response to the consultation on the Leveson Inquiry and its implementation, 1 March 2018

The Metropolitan Police Service, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and the College of Policing have implemented or are implementing all of the Inquiry’s recommendations in relation to law enforcement. For example, the College of Policing have published a code of ethics and developed national guidance for police officers on how to engage with the press. Reforms in the Policing and Crime Act 2017 also strengthened protections for whistleblowers.

Extract from: Government Response to the Consultation on the Leveson Inquiry and its Implementation: Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 and Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry

Delivery

No statement on delivery from National Police Chiefs Council or Police has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Home Office · 23 May 2024

The Leveson Inquiry made eight recommendations (68 and 75-81) concerning the press and the police, focused on providing greater transparency and openness. These were accepted by the Government, the College of Policing and the then Association of Chief Police Officers (superseded by the National Police Chiefs’ Council). All the recommendations have been addressed.

From: Police: Journalism (written question HL4705)

Site note: The source gives this passage once, for recommendations 68 and 75 to 81 together. The same words are recorded on L68, L75, L76, L77, L78, L79, L80 and L81.

Earlier findings (1)

●Home Office · 12 Feb 2013

The Home Office accept this recommendation and we will work with PCCs and ACPO on its implementation.

From: Leveson Inquiry Report Recommendations - Home Office Response

Site note: The Home Office's response to each of the Leveson report's recommendations on policing, placed in the House of Commons Library as deposited paper DEP2013-0290. The document is undated; the date is that of the deposit's covering letter and of the Home Secretary's statement announcing it, 12 February 2013.

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.