Two people suspected of illegally leaking CCTV footage of Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladangelo will not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, the information watchdog said.
The footage leaked to the Sun last year, showing Mr Hancock kissing Ms Coladangelo in his departmental office, led to him resigning as health secretary for breaking social distancing rules that were in place at the time.
It also prompted a criminal investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ICO said: “Forensic analysis revealed that the leaked images were most likely obtained by someone recording the CCTV footage screens with a mobile phone.
“Six phones retrieved during the execution of search warrants did not contain the relevant CCTV footage.”
The ICO said it had found “insufficient evidence to prosecute two people suspected of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing CCTV footage from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC)”.
It has now closed its criminal investigation, which it had been launched after receiving a report of a personal data breach from DHSC’s CCTV operator, EMCOR.
The ICO said it had had a legal duty to launch the probe “given the seriousness of the report and the wider implications it potentially had for the security of information across government”.