The Information Commissioner’s Office has confirmed that it is looking into a complaint concerning information obtained by private detectives instructed by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly.

However, a spokeswoman for the ICO said press reports that the minister had been reported to the commission, or that he is being investigated, were not correct.

Last year it was revealed that Djanogly had paid private detectives to investigate aides and colleagues in his Huntingdon constituency, to find out the source of media reports about his parliamentary expenses.

Labour MP John Mann made a complaint to the ICO in relation to the information obtained by the private detectives.

The ICO spokeswoman said: ‘We are looking into a complaint that we have received. We need to establish whether the information that was obtained was information of a personal nature.’

She said that if no personal information was obtained by the private detectives, there will have been no breach of the Data Protection Act and nothing further for the ICO to look into.

Djanogly said: ‘It is not true to state that the Information Commissioner's Office have started an official investigation into this matter.’

He said it was not clear what the relevance of the ICO could be in this case.

Djanogly said: ‘As I said when the issue first arose last year, I would never have condoned anything unlawful and dishonest in the investigations, and the investigators have assured me that all of their inquiries were carried out in an entirely lawful manner.’

When the fact that he had hired private investigators was reported in the press, Djanogly said: ‘Following malicious allegations made against me in newspapers last year, I felt I had to find out who was spreading these untrue stories about me.

‘I instructed a firm of private investigators to try to find out the source of these stories because I was extremely upset that my private family life had been invaded.’

He added: ‘I am sorry if some people judge that I made a mistake. With hindsight I can see that I may have overreacted, but I was being subjected to very malicious, anonymous attacks on my family.’