Date published: 3 March 2016
Closing date: 31 March 2016, 5 pm
The purpose of this consultation was to seek views on our approach to innovation.
In July 2015, the government, as part of the Productivity Plan, asked departments to work with regulators to publish Innovation Plans by spring 2016, setting out how legislation and enforcement frameworks could adapt to emerging technologies and disruptive business models.
Innovation is led by the rail and road industry and where appropriate it is supported by our overall regulatory framework. We have a duty to promote improvements in railway service performance and promote efficiency and economy on the part of persons providing railway and road services. We directly incentivise innovation by setting challenging efficiency targets where innovative approaches could be developed or applied to extend asset lives, improve productivity, improve network performance or reduce operating costs.
Innovation is embedded in our strategic objectives. Annex A of our consultation letter sets out our approach and some examples of our actions to support innovation in the rail and road sectors and in our approach to regulation. Other issues on innovation in rail and road will be addressed by Department for Transport (DfT) in its Innovation Plan.
We would welcome feedback on whether there are any other actions or issues that we could take to strengthen innovation in our approach to regulation.