Tom Winsor
Sir Thomas Philip Winsor (born 7 December 1957) is a British arbitrator and mediator, lawyer, consultant and economic regulatory professional.
In October 2010, UK Home Secretary Theresa May MP appointed him to carry out a controversial, wide-ranging review of the remuneration and conditions of service of police officers and staff in England and Wales, the first for over 30 years.
Following the final publication of the review in March 2012, the Home Secretary nominated him to serve as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary in June 2012, the first to be appointed from outside the police service.
In the 2015 New Years Honours List, it was announced Winsor was to be knighted; he received his knighthood from HM The Queen on 19 March 2015, at Buckingham Palace.
[4] In 1982 he enrolled as a postgraduate student at the Centre for Petroleum and Mineral Law Studies of the University of Dundee under Professor T C Daintith.
In its manifesto for the 1997 election, it had committed itself to a policy of increased accountability of the privatised companies to the public interest through tougher and more effective regulation.
[24] One of Winsor's principal motivations in applying for the post of Rail Regulator had been his frustration with — some critics elevated it to a visceral hatred of — Railtrack's incompetence and how it impeded so much progress in the privatised railway.
[29] He said changing this quickly was all the more important because the ability of the train operators—Railtrack's direct customers—to apply pressure and secure fair terms and reasonable performance from the infrastructure operator was weak.
He criticised its many failures, including its poor knowledge of the condition, capacity and capability of its assets, rising numbers of broken rails and deteriorating track quality measures, its bad relationship with its train operator customers, its performance shortcomings, poor contracting and procurement strategies and the soaring costs of its projects (especially the renewal and upgrade of the West Coast main line).
[41] Instead of getting involved in eye-catching new projects such as taking over the London Underground and High Speed 1, Winsor believed Railtrack should concentrate on the core job of operating, maintaining and renewing the national network.
[45][46][2] However, the relationship between the two men was courteous and professional, even though Winsor was a severe critic of the philosophy and approach underlying Corbett's leadership of Railtrack.
[49] But the watershed for the company— and the British railway industry—was on 17 October 2000 when a broken rail caused a high-speed train, travelling at 115 mph (185 km/h), to derail at Hatfield, north of London, killing four passengers and injuring over 70 more.
[55] Because Railtrack's asset knowledge was so poor, it did not know with sufficient certainty where else on its network the type of metal fatigue—called gauge corner cracking or rolling contact fatigue—could cause another accident.
[57][58] Winsor took further enforcement action against Railtrack, first to compel the production of a coherent recovery plan—something the company had failed to do for six weeks after the crash—and then to ensure the plan was carried out.
[34] This was the culmination of a regulatory review of the company's asset maintenance and management plans, and the demands which passenger and freight train operators were likely to make of the network in the future.
To achieve favourable accounting treatment for the revenues, the government agreed that its franchising arm, the Strategic Rail Authority, would set up a 50:50 joint venture company, known as Renewco.
[69] The Railtrack negotiating strategy involved the government agreeing to cost-plus financing of the company for several years, and a four-year suspension of the economic regulatory regime.
[73] On 5 October 2001, Transport Secretary Stephen Byers called Winsor to a meeting to explain the government regarded Railtrack as insolvent.
[77] Although he explained to Railtrack that he could not complete an interim review over a single weekend, he said he would be prepared to make a public statement that he had started the process.
[77][78] Immediately after Railtrack went into administration (the same day the US and UK began the war in Afghanistan) there followed a period of very considerable public and City criticism of what the government had done.
[80][81] Winsor maintained media silence on the affair for a month, until 7 November 2001 when he gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.
[86] In the face of industry and financial markets' pressure, the government withdrew their threatened legislation and instead announced the regulatory regime for the railways would be reviewed.
[97][98] Winsor was severely criticised by some politicians—notably the House of Commons Transport Select Committee under the chairmanship of the MP Gwyneth Dunwoody—for his power to increase public spending on the railways by such a large amount without Treasury approval.
[105] He resigned as a partner of White & Case on 30 September 2012, in order to take up appointment as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary the following day.
[103] On 1 October 2010, the UK Home Secretary, Theresa May MP, announced that Winsor was to carry out a review of police pay and working conditions.
Former West Midlands Chief Constable Sir Edward Crew and Professor Richard Disney of the University of Nottingham supported Winsor in carrying out the review with professional advice.
In relation to direct entry at higher ranks, she said: 'I do not believe it is in the best interests of the service to restrict its ability to appoint officers to senior positions to a limited number of individuals.
[130] On 14 February 2014 the Home Secretary announced she would accept the PAT decision and therefore would not proceed with it 'at this time', leaving open the possibility that it will be needed and should be introduced in the future.
It said it understood radical changes were required to absorb budget cuts and agreed with the move away from length of tenure as the sole criteria for increased pay.
'[174] This sparked outrage from the policing community as well as from the public when officers began sharing on Twitter some of the things they have had to deal with whilst at work and the effect it had on them, using the hashtag #ITookHome.
