When Transparency Reaches the Regulator: Bus Safety Data and the Role of the ICO

Over the past year, I’ve been submitting Freedom of Information requests to Combined Authorities across England in relation to bus safety governance, reporting frameworks, and transparency arrangements.

The aim has been simple: to understand how safety data is collected, monitored, published and governed as franchising and reform expand nationally.

Recently, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed that my complaint regarding Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s handling of one such request has been accepted as eligible for investigation (ICO reference: IC-472801-Z4Y8).

This does not mean wrongdoing has been found.

It means the regulator will now examine whether the request was handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

That matters.

Because transparency only works if it is consistent.

If safety data is published, it needs to be usable and capable of meaningful scrutiny.

If governance structures are cited, they need to be evidenced.
If exemptions are relied upon, they need to withstand independent examination.

As bus franchising expands and Combined Authorities take on greater responsibility for networks, public accountability becomes more important — not less.

Public control should mean public transparency.

The ICO exists to ensure that information rights legislation is applied properly and consistently. Where there is disagreement over how requests have been handled, that independent oversight is part of the system working as designed.

This isn’t about adversarial politics or point-scoring. It’s about standards.

Across the country, authorities are developing new models of bus governance. This is an opportunity to embed strong safety reporting frameworks, clear lines of accountability, and transparent publication practices from the outset — rather than retrofit them later.

Independent scrutiny plays a role in that process.

I will continue engaging constructively with authorities, officers, and industry colleagues as this work progresses.

Transparency isn’t a headline.
It’s a discipline.

And safety governance deserves that discipline.

Lee Odams
Bus Driver | RMT Branch Secretary | Secretary, National Industrial Organising Conference of Bus Workers

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