Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 22 March (HL Deb, col 413), what assessment they have made of the independence of the Advertising Standards Authority in the light of its categorisation as a Complaints Handler Member of the Ombudsman Association rather than an Ombudsmen Member.

Broadcast and non-broadcast advertising are governed by a system of co-regulation and self-regulation respectively, overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority.

It is correct that the ASA is not technically an ombudsman and is instead categorised as a complaint handler member of the Ombudsman Association - a position which applies to a number of other regulatory bodies, for example the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Conduct Authority.

This status obliges the ASA to operate in accordance with the Ombudsman Association’s Principle of Good Complaint Handling and to have regard to its Principles of Good Governance. These principles set standards of independence, openness and transparency, accountability, integrity, clarity of purpose, effectiveness, accessibility, flexibility, proportionality, efficiency and quality of outcomes.

Complaint handler member status does not imply any inadequacy in governance, complaints handling or other standards.