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Compliance cases in past 5 calendar years

Date released
27 June 2022
Request number

202206013

Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Information requested

1. This request for information relates to your experience of handling compliance cases (by which we mean cases involving engagement by you with the firms, organisations, or individuals which you regulate regarding potential breach of their regulatory obligations), the associated timescales and outcomes and your approach to follow up.

2. We wish first of all to know:

(a) how many compliance cases were opened by you in the each of last five calendar years (i.e., 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021);

(b) of the compliance cases opened in each of those years, how many remain open and how many have been resolved;

(c) of the compliance cases opened in each of those years which have been resolved:

(i) how many were resolved without the opening of a formal investigation (by which we mean the exercise of statutory powers to gather information from firms, organisations, or individuals suspected of breaching their regulatory obligations);
(ii) how many (distinguishing between those resolved without the opening of a formal investigation and other cases) were resolved in (i) less than six months; (ii) between six months and 12 months; and (iii) more than 12 months.

3. Second, we wish to know, in relation to the resolved cases disclosed in your response to Q2(b) above (and distinguishing in each case between those resolved with and without the opening of a formal investigation) how many resulted in:

(a) a finding or admission of breach on the part of the regulated firm, organisation or individual;

(b) a payment of a financial penalty and/or making of financial redress;

(c) a change (or undertakings as to a change) in the conduct of the regulated firm, organisation or individual;

(d) a change in the senior management of the regulated firm or organisation;

(e) none of the above.

4. Third, we wish to know, in relation to each of those resolved cases disclosed in your responses to Q3(a)-(d) above, in how many of those cases (distinguishing in each case between those resolved with and without the opening of a formal investigation) have you:

(a) followed up with the firm, organisation, or individual to check up on the compliance areas examined in the resolved case;

(b) opened another compliance case (whether related to the resolved case or not) involving the same firm, organisation, or individual.

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 1 of the FOIA, we hold the information relevant to your request.

As your requests are concerning the handling of compliance cases, we can confirm that this information is already available in some of our corporate publications such as the “Chief Nuclear Inspector’s annual report on Great Britain’s nuclear industry”, our Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) reports, and our “Enforcement” webpage, all of which are available on our website. As these publications are in the public domain, your requests therefore fall within s.21 2 of the FOIA: information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means. This is an absolute exemption and so does not require the public interest test.

You may find the following references specifically relevant to your request:

Prior to the publication of our Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Reports, we had included more detailed information on compliance and enforcement in our Annual Reports and Accounts. These are laid before Parliament and are also available on our website:

  • ONR Annual Report and Accounts 2017/18 6 at pages 43-44
  • ONR Annual Report and Accounts 2016/17 7 at pages 22-23

As mentioned above, you may also find the following pages of our website helpful in accessing the information you are seeking:

Should you have any specific enquiries or requests after you have accessed the publications set out above, please submit them to us via Contact@onr.gov.uk quoting the reference “FOI202206013”.

Exemptions applied

N/A

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A