Railways Act 2005

Information powers corresponding to section 27 of the 1974 Act

11 (1) The Office of Rail Regulation may serve a notice under this paragraph on any person for the purpose of obtaining information which that Office needs for the carrying out of its safety functions.

(2) A notice under this paragraph is one requiring the person on whom it is served—

(a) to provide the Office of Rail Regulation with information about such matters as may be specified in the notice; and

(b) to do so in the form and manner so specified.

(3) The consent of the Secretary of State is required for the service of a notice under this paragraph.

(4) The consents that may be given for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) include a general consent relating to notices of a specified description.

(5) Nothing in the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 (c. 39) is to be construed as preventing or penalising the disclosure by a Minister of the Crown or government department to—

(a) the Office of Rail Regulation,

(b) a member, officer or employee of that Office, or

(c) a committee established by that Office,

of information falling within sub-paragraph (6) about an undertaking (within the meaning of that Act).

(6) Information about an undertaking falls within this sub-paragraph if it consists of—

(a) the names and addresses of the persons carrying on the undertaking;

(b) the nature of the undertaking’s activities;

(c) the number of persons of different descriptions who work in the undertaking;

(d) the addresses or places where activities of the undertaking are or were carried on;

(e) the nature of the activities carried on there; or

(f) the number of persons of different descriptions who work or worked in the undertaking there.

(7) A person to whom a disclosure that is authorised by sub-paragraph (5) is made must not use the information except for the purposes of the safety functions of the Office of Rail Regulation.

(8) It is an offence for a person—

(a) to contravene a requirement imposed by a notice under this paragraph; or

(b) to use information in contravention of sub-paragraph (7).

(9) A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (8) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

(b) on conviction on indictment—

(i) in the case of an offence of contravening a notice, to a fine; and

(ii) in the case of an offence of using information in contravention of sub-paragraph (7), to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

(10) Section 52 of the 1974 Act (meaning of “work” and related expressions) applies for the purposes of this paragraph as it applies for the purposes of Part 1 of that Act.