Further improvements to the press watchdog’s Editors’ Code of Practice have been touted by the body which writes and revises it.

The Editor’s Code of Practice Committee has announced a public consultation into how the standards policed by the Independent Press Standards Organisation can be changed.

Editors, journalists, others working in the media and the public are being invited to suggest revisions to the code.

In a separate development Paul Dacre, editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, has announced today that he will be stepping down as the committee’s chair.

His decision follows a recommendation made by Sir Joe Pilling in his external review of IPSO that committee members should not serve more than two three-year terms.

Changes to the code in recent years have included strengthening the clauses on the reporting of suicide, discrimination, complaints resolution and the public interest, as well as ensuring that headlines are supported by the text of stories.

IPSO chair Sir Alan Moses, pictured above left, said: “The Editor’s Code of Practice is the cornerstone of IPSO’s contractual agreement with the press and is the document by which we determine whether standards have been breached by any of the 2,000 publications we regulate.

“However, the code cannot stand still and needs to evolve. A trusted, thriving and free press is vital to our national discourse and I encourage anyone with a view on how the press is regulated to respond to the consultation.”