Wednesday 28 March 2012

Command Paper - Executive remuneration

This from Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...

From the Command Paper

Executive remuneration has been the focus of public debate.

As a private sector company, Network Rail sets performance pay levels for its senior staff. In response to questions from the wider public about bonus awards that have been perceived as excessive in relation to Network Rail performance levels, Network Rail has worked with the ORR under the terms of its licence to adapt its remuneration approach.

The ORR has made clear throughout this review that its objective is to ensure that Network Rail’s executive bonus payouts are simple, transparent and clearly aligned with performance, meeting long-term taxpayer objectives by rewarding only sustained out performance of long-term financial targets, notably efficiency, while also reinforcing the need to hit overall non-financial regulatory targets, including safety and reliability.

So why was Ms Greening prepared to vote down the Annual Incentive Plan which Network Rail and ORR had worked together to adapt and ORR had cleared?

I ask only out of curiosity.