UK Information Commissioner John Edwards voluntarily stepped aside from his duties on 26 February while the Information Commissioner's Office conducts an independent workplace investigation into unspecified HR matters. The investigation has been under way for two months, according to people familiar with the timeline.

Edwards announced the move in a post on LinkedIn. "I wanted to let you know that for the last few weeks I have voluntarily stepped aside from my duties at the ICO while an independent investigation into HR matters is undertaken. I am fully cooperating and engaged with the investigation and will report progress in due course," he wrote.

A spokesperson said the report from the independent workplace investigation will make recommendations for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to decide next steps. The spokesperson added: "The board, chief executive Paul Arnold and the executive team continue to lead the ICO, aligned to the scheme of delegation, to ensure continuity in our leadership and regulatory work."

Edwards, a specialist in information law who previously served as New Zealand's privacy commissioner, was appointed to the £200,000-a-year role in January 2022. A few days before stepping back, he represented the regulator at an AI summit in Delhi attended by senior politicians and tech leaders from around the world.

The ICO regulates political parties' use of personal data in campaigning, the methods websites use to verify users' ages to protect children from harm, the use of AI systems to automate decision-making in job selection processes, the police use of facial-recognition technology, and nuisance calls. In February the office fined Reddit £14.5 million for failings including not providing robust enough age checks for children. That same month, it launched an investigation into Elon Musk's Grok AI following reports it had been used to generate non-consensual sexual imagery of individuals, including women and children.