Phone hacking has been a "massive conspiracy against the public" and should be subject to a full independent inquiry, a former minister has said.
The call comes as it was revealed that footballer Ryan Giggs is to launch legal action against the News of the World following alleged phone hacking.
At question time in the Lords, Conservative peer Lord Fowler pressed the government on what further action they intend to take to prevent telephone hacking by newspapers.
The former journalist and newspaper director said: "There was a time when there was an attempt to write off phone hacking as the work of one rogue reporter.
"In the last two weeks alone, News Corporation has paid out damages of £100,000 to the actress Sienna Miller and admitted misuse of private information, breach of confidence and harassment.
"News International has set up what they call a £50m compensation fund for the victims of phone hacking and evidence has emerged that the News of the World is not the only newspaper involved.
"Do you agree that all this represents a massive conspiracy against the public that the Press Complaints Commission has been powerless to prevent?"
He pressed culture, Olympics, media and sport spokesperson Baroness Rawlings: "Will you give an assurance that once the criminal proceedings are complete the government will set up an independent inquiry to find out where responsibility lies?"
Baroness Rawlings said that phone hacking is "unacceptable and against the law" and that various investigations were currently under way and setting up another one would "risk harming" the criminal inquiries.
She told peers: "We shall in the circumstances monitor all the results and consider whether any further action will be necessary."
The spokesperson added: "We are witnessing a revolution in the information and communications world, as in technology in general, of such galloping speed that I can only agree with my noble friend that constant monitoring is essential in case further action is needed."
Labour peer Lord Sugar suggested editors and newspaper directors and proprietors should face prison sentences over the phone hacking scandal.
Star of BBC1’s The Apprentice said: "It is ludicrous to suggest that the editor of a national newspaper is not aware of where the information came from.
"In the past a journalist was actually given a custodial sentence for phone hacking.
"Isn't it the case that the editor is responsible for what goes in the newspaper and he also should be given a custodial sentence and indeed the proprietor and the board of directors?"
In response, Baroness Rawlings said: "When it comes to editors, I am afraid I am unaware of what happened there."
Former Tory minister Lord Ryder of Wensum said a government inquiry should look into "the very close links between senior police officers and senior newspaper executives".
"Indeed it is alleged, during the two inquiries into the main case we are discussing today, police officers were entertained by the executives of that newspaper during those inquiries," he said.
Baroness Rawlings said it was a "very delicate point" but it was hard to see whether another inquiry would be useful.
She noted that there are also several ongoing court cases on the matter, two parliamentary committees, and reviews by the Crown Prosecution Service and the Press Complaints Commission.
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