Other functions
Section 87: Provision of information
423.The section places a duty on the ONR to make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for the dissemination of information, for example to industry and the public, that is relevant to its purposes. In compliance with this duty, for instance, the ONR might publish information in print or on its website in order for employers and employees to be better informed about the health and safety risks peculiar to the nuclear industry and how these risks can be managed.
Section 88: Research, training etc
424.This section permits the ONR to undertake research, or arrange for someone else to carry out research, in relation to any matter connected with its purposes. It imposes an obligation on the ONR, if it thinks it appropriate, to publish, or arrange the publication of, the results of any research. In addition, the section empowers the ONR to provide training or make arrangements for training through third parties (subsection (3)) for any of its purposes.
425.Under subsections (1)(a) and (2) the ONR is given the necessary powers to pay for others to carry out research or publish the results on its behalf. Subsection (4) entitles the ONR to charge for the training that it provides. The power to publish the results of research is subject to general prohibitions on disclosure contained within the Act (in particular in Schedule 9) and in other legislation.
Section 89: Provision of information or advice to relevant authorities
426.Under this section, a duty is imposed on the ONR to provide certain information or advice if it is requested to do so by “a relevant authority”. The “relevant authorities” are: Ministers of the Crown, the devolved administrations, the Health and Safety Executive, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Office of Rail Regulation (see subsections (1) and (8)).
427.The information which may be requested by any of these authorities (and thus needs to be provided by the ONR to the person requesting it) must be about the ONR’s activities (including those of its inspectors: see subsection (3)) and connected to a matter of concern to the authority requesting it (subsection (2)(b)).
428.In addition, a Minister of the Crown may also make a request for information for the purpose of monitoring the ONR’s performance of its functions or for the purpose of any proceedings in Parliament (subsection (2)(a)).
429.In the case of advice, the advice requested must relate to a matter which is of concern to the authority requesting it and be within the expertise of a member, employee or other member of staff (such as a secondee) of the ONR (subsection (4)), or be relevant to any of the ONR’s purposes. The ONR is entitled to charge for the provision of information to a relevant authority by virtue of subsection (5), although regulations made by the Secretary of State under subsection (6) may prevent charging in particular cases, classes of cases or circumstances.
Section 90: Arrangements with government departments etc
430.Subsection (1) permits the ONR, by agreement, to perform functions of Ministers of the Crown, government departments and other public authorities (whether or not those functions fall within the ONR’s purposes). These agreements can be entered into without the Secretary of State’s consent if the function being delegated is the Health and Safety Executive’s function of investigating or making a special report under section 14 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, or a similar function of the Office of Rail Regulation under the Railways Act 2005 (see subsection (2)(a)(i) and (ii)). Otherwise, such an agreement may only be entered into if the Secretary of State considers the ONR can perform the function appropriately.
431.Whilst the section permits agreements for the ONR to perform the functions of a Minister of the Crown that arise at common law, it does not permit the ONR to make legislation on behalf of another person (subsection (3)).
432.The agreement between the ONR and the other government department or public body may include provisions for payment.
433.The section permits the ONR to provide services or facilities that are outside its purposes, and to charge for these, in connection with a government department’s or other public authority’s functions (see subsection (5)).
434.This section broadly allows for flexibility in the ONR’s role and for it to take on the functions of other bodies, where it can appropriately do so. This places the ONR in a similar position to the Health and Safety Executive, which carries out a number of functions under similar provisions set out in section 13 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Section 91: Provision of services or facilities
435.Subsection (1) allows the ONR to provide services or facilities to any person for the ONR’s purposes. This would allow, for example, the ONR to provide advice and information on nuclear information security to a (United Kingdom) company that was expecting to become a holder of sensitive nuclear information.
436.Subsection (2) would also allow the ONR to carry out activities that are within its expertise but not within its purposes. This can only be done with the permission of the Secretary of State. Examples of these activities would include providing advice on nuclear matters to other nations or to those in the United Kingdom who are manufacturing nuclear parts for an international market (not in the United Kingdom). The section provides for the ONR to undertake such activities, at a cost to be agreed by both parties. This would allow it to provide such services at a commercial rate, rather than on the basis upon which the Secretary of State sets the ONR’s fees under section 101.
