Accountability of ORR

The individual members of the Board are appointed for a fixed term of up to five years and can only be removed from office by the Secretary of State for Transport for incapacity or misbehaviour (section 1(3) of the Railways Act 1993). The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is therefore independent of Government and while the Secretary of State can make representations, give guidance and apply pressure, he cannot give orders to the Board. However, independence does not mean there is any lack of accountability. The Board is accountable in the following ways:

• its statutory duties, enforceable by action for breach of statutory duty or through judicial review;
• its obligation to make an annual report to the Secretary of State under section 74 of the Railways Act 1993, which is published and laid before Parliament;
• written Parliamentary questions;
• its obligation to give written and oral evidence to Committees of Parliament, including the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport, the Public Accounts Committee and the House of Lords Committee on the Constitution;
• answerability to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman) in cases of allegations of maladministration;
• scrutiny by the National Audit Office and, through that organisation, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee;
• obligation to have regard to general guidance given to it by the Secretary of State about railway services or other matters relating to railways (section 4(5)(a) of the Railways Act 1993);
• obligation under section 69(2) of the Railways Act 1993 to have particular regard to considerations specified by the Secretary of State in prioritising its review of the provision of railway services, and considerations to which it should have particular regard in determining whether to exercise its statutory function;
• obligation under section 69(3) of the Railways Act 1993 to give information, advice and assistance to the Secretary of State;
• obligations to comply with the rules of administrative law and the rules of good public administration, enforceable in the High Court (in Scotland, the Court of Session) by judicial review, including in relation to:
  • the duty to act fairly, to keep an open mind, to hear all sides before making a decision, to take into account all relevant and no irrelevant considerations;
  • the rules as to the lawful exercise of powers, reasonableness and proportionality, consistency of decision-making and compliance with procedural rules;
  • the rules of substantive and procedural legitimate expectation, for example the Board's commitment to give full written reasons for its decisions;
• statutory appeals by companies against ORR's enforcement orders (under section 57 of the Railways Act 1993)
• appeals to the Competition Commission in relation to:
• proposals to modify operating licences (section 13 of the Railways Act 1993);
• access charges reviews (Schedule 4A of the Railways Act 1993); and
• certain decisions made by ORR under the Competition Act 1998.