Publication scheme

Every public authority subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) is required to adopt and maintain a publication scheme. A publication scheme is a commitment to routinely and proactively provide information to the public. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has asked public authorities to adopt  a model publication scheme. Details of the model publication scheme is available on the ICO website.

We have produced a publication scheme ( 141 Kb) which will help you find ORR information that is readily available.

The right to know

The general right of access does not mean that we disclose all information requested under the FOI Act. Guidance in relation to the various exemptions is available from the Ministry of Justice website.

Where we obtain information as a result of our statutory functions, Section 145 of the Railways Act 1993 may prohibit us from disclosing this information without the consent of the person that provided it. Depending on the facts of a particular case, we will consider whether it is appropriate to seek a third party's consent to disclosure of information covered by Section 145.

Since the FOI request of 9 March 2007 was processed ORR has received written representations from ATOC putting on the record their objection to onward disclosure of their LENNON database information on the grounds of its commercially sensitive nature. ORR has therefore concluded that it is now prohibited from releasing this database information under Section 145 of the Railways Act 1993 (the 1993 Act) and Section 237 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the 2002 Act). Section 145 of the 1993 Act provides that no information with respect to any particular business which has been obtained under or by virtue of any provisions of that Act, and relates to the affairs of any individual or to any particular business (i.e. train operators and Network Rail), shall be disclosed without the consent of that individual or business. Section 237 of the 2002 Act has a similar exemption in terms of information obtained by ORR in the course of investigations made under the Competition Act 1998 or the 2002 Act. Releasing information in breach of the bar in both s.145 and s.237 is a criminal offence.

Charging for information requests

We will consider charging for complying with information requests on an individual basis in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Last updated: 6 May 2011

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