Information Commissioner's Office

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is the independent regulatory office (national data protection authority) dealing with the Data Protection Act 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 across the UK; and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and, to a limited extent, in Scotland. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 provides for the abolition of the office of Information Commissioner and the transfer of functions to a new body, the Information Commission. As of July 2026, these measures have not come fully into effect. The role of Information Commissioner is currently vacant, with chief executive Paul Arnold temporarily holding the Commissioner's responsibilities since John Edwards resigned on 19 June 2026 after an independent workplace investigation found that there was a case to answer.