Network Rail's public members have produced their first annual report, outlining how they have held the board to account over the past year.

The group, defined as the board's secondary governance is akin to shareholders of other companies. However, its members have no financial interest in the business.

Most notably this year, the group has assisted in improving what they called the systematic under-reporting of safety incidents involving both workers and contractors. Internal reviews were carried out and the recommendations are being implemented by a new Governance Risk Assurance process.

Peter Skyte, members' coordinator, stated it was important that members of the public knew who the group were and what they did. He said they were publishing their inaugural statement, "to show how we are discharging our governance role in Network Rail delivering a safe, reliable and improving railway for the people of Britain".

The report also announces the election of Richard Parry-Jones as a director of the Network Rail board.