A record number of complaints was investigated and resolved by the Press Complaints Commission in 2006, the watchdog has said.

Although there was a fall of around ten per cent in the number of overall complaints received, down to 3,325, there was a sharp rise in the number which were resolved.

The Commission's staff were able to negotiate remedies in in 418 cases, up 20 per cent on 2005.

Many of the complaints received were outside of the PCC's remit, concerning things such as advertising, but of the 1,010 which fell under the Code of Practice, 740 required a formal invesigation.

The PCC's annual report, published today, also said these investigations were being conducted quicker than ever, now taking an average 42 days.

The average time taken to process all complaints - including those outside its remit - is now 17 days.

As usual, the majority of complaints received in 2006 concerned accuracy, accounting for 72.6 per cent.

Privacy complaints accounted for 10.8 per cent - 231 cases.

The PCC said the number had increased slightly on 2005, and of these, 96 were settled amicably following an agreement brokered by PCC officials, and proportionate offers of settlement, which were not accepted by the complainant, were made in a further 16.

The Commission published 19 adjudications that concerned privacy in some way, upholding five complaints.

The remainder were dispensed through private rulings from the Commission, usually because they did not breach the Code.

The PCC said the figures put into perspective the small number of privacy/confidence actions against newspapers that go to court, although the huge attention that legal actions attract leads some people erroneously to think that there has been a shift away from the PCC to the courts.

It said: "The truth is the opposite. The scope of the Commission's work on privacy is immense and not even captured by the published figures, which relate only to complaints that have been formally pursued.

"Its involvement in privacy issues is far broader, including: giving pre-publication advice to editors and complainants; resolving problems with newsgathering methods without the need for a formal complaint; dealing with thousands of informal requests for advice; as well as offering a wide range of remedies for breaches of the 11 clauses of the Code that relate to privacy and setting the boundaries on privacy through expanding the Commission’s case law."

Complaints regarding harassment and intrusion into grief or shock accounted for 4.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.

Discrimination issues were raised in 2.6 per cent of cases and complaints regarding children made up 2.1 per cent of complaints.

The Commission said: "There has been a clear culture change over the last decade.

"Editors now routinely offer meaningful resolutions to breaches of the Code – and on occasion offer to resolve matters that may not in fact breach the Code.

"This is one of the advantages of a system of conciliation which brings parties together rather than having to make a judgement on who was right in each case."