Transparency data

Midlands Rail Hub programme SRO appointment letter

Updated 20 February 2024

Sender

Dame Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport

Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Recipient

Stephen Sutcliffe, Senior Responsible Owner for the Midlands Rail Hub programme.

Letter

16 March 2023

Dear Stephen,

Subject: Appointment as Senior Responsible Owner for the Midlands Rail Hub programme

We are writing to confirm your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Midlands Rail Hub programme with effect from the date of this letter. This letter sets out your responsibilities and the support you can expect from your department and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

As SRO you are directly accountable to David Hughes, Director General, Rail Infrastructure Group, under the oversight of the Permanent Secretary as accounting officer for the Department for Transport, and Huw Merriman, Rail Minister.

Your programme forms part of the Rail Network Enhancement Portfolio (RNEP), under the oversight of the Chair of the Investment, Portfolio and Delivery Committee (IPDC) and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub programme and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives, with policy intent and outcomes expected. This encompasses securing and protecting its vision, ensuring that it is governed responsibly, reported on honestly, escalated appropriately and for influencing the context, culture, and operating environment of the Midlands Rail Hub programme. You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the Midlands Rail Hub programme and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. You should identify, quantify and manage the realisation of the agreed project benefits, working with the Department for Transport’s Passenger Services Directorate who have lead responsibility for the successful delivery of passenger benefits. Where issues arise which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to IPDC.

You remain accountable to ministers, as set out in the Civil Service Code, and should deliver the project in accordance with the objectives and policy intent as set by ministers.

In addition to your internal accountabilities, SROs for GMPP projects and programmes are personally accountable to Parliamentary Select Committees. This means that, from the date of this letter, you will be held personally accountable to and could be called by Select Committees to account for and explain the decisions and actions you have taken to deliver the Midlands Rail Hub.

It is important to be clear that your accountability relates only to implementation, within the agreed terms in this letter; it will remain for the Minister to account for the relevant policy decisions and development.

More information on this is set out in Giving Evidence to Select Committees - Guidance for Civil Servants, sometimes known as the Osmotherly Rules. Information on the roles and responsibilities of the SRO are detailed in the Infrastructure and Project Authority’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner. You should also make yourself familiar with the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, the requirements of the Government Project Delivery Framework, and the guidance and requirements for project delivery as set by HM Treasury and Department for Transport.

Time commitment and tenure

This role will require at least 50% of your time to enable effective delivery of the role and execute your responsibilities in full.

You are required to undertake this role until achievement of the delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub programme into service, for which the next major milestone is an RNEP Decision to Design, planned for 2023. Progress towards this will be reflected in your personal objectives. Any changes to the agreed time commitment or tenure of the role, as set out above, will require both departmental and Infrastructure & Projects Authority consent.

Objectives and performance criteria

The policy intent supported by the Midlands Rail Hub programme is to improve journeys; boost economic growth and opportunity; provide a safe, secure and sustainable transport system and build a one nation Britain.

Any proposed changes to scope which impacts on this intent or the realisation of benefits must be authorised by IPDC and may be subject to further levels of approval.

The vision of the Midlands Rail Hub programme is improved rail connectivity and capacity for the region and its objectives are to:

• provide additional rail capacity in central Birmingham for services from the south and west
• make the most of the opportunities afforded by HS2, allowing passengers from the south and west of Birmingham convenient interchange from conventional rail services at Moor Street station to high-speed trains at the new HS2 Curzon Street station.

The OBC will also investigate the possibility of enhancing capacity in central Birmingham to relieve capacity at New Street station, allowing more services from the north and east.

The current aspiration is that the completed Midlands Rail Hub programme will be fully available for operational use by December 2030.

Your personal objectives and performance criteria will be linked to specific deliverables and objectives of the programme to be confirmed and agreed through ongoing planning activities. You are expected to run your project in accordance with the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, the other Functional Standards as applicable to the Midlands Rail Hub programme and the requirements of the Government Project Delivery Framework.

Extent and limit of accountability

Finance and Controls

HM Treasury spending controls will apply on the basis set out within the department’s delegated authority letter. Where the Midlands Rail Hub programme exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury, the Treasury Approval Point process will apply, and the details of each approval process must be agreed with your HM Treasury spending team. You should consult departmental finance colleagues on how to go about this.

You should note that where expenditure is considered novel, contentious, repercussive, or likely to result in costs to other parts of the public sector, HM Treasury approval will be required, regardless of whether the programme expenditure exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury. If in doubt about whether approval is required you should, in the first instance, consult departmental finance colleagues before raising with the relevant HM Treasury spending team.

The overall estimated budget, resourcing requirements and tolerances for your project/programme will be agreed as part of the approval process. You will be expected to deliver within these tolerances and report quarterly on these as part of GMPP reporting.

You should operate at all times within the rules set out in Managing public money. In addition, you must be mindful of, and act in accordance with, the specific HM Treasury delegated limits and Cabinet Office controls relevant to the Midlands Rail Hub programme. Information on these controls can be found here: Cabinet Office controls.

Delegated authority

The programme budget is managed at a Portfolio level and SROs are remitted funding in line with the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) policy and is governed by the Enhancement Portfolio Board and where relevant DfT’s Tier 1 Investment Board.

You are responsible for:

• agreeing with the Enhancement Portfolio Board and the relevant DfT Investment Board project funding at each investment decision gateway
• agreeing with the Enhancement Portfolio Board and the relevant DfT Investment Board any changes to your remit, including changes to funding, schedule or scope
• recommending to the Enhancement Portfolio Board and the relevant DfT Investment Board the need to pause, delay or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner

Nick Bisson, Director of Integrated Rail Plan and Northern Powerhouse Rail will remain your line manager and will supporting you in discharging your role.

Where issues arise which take you outside of these authority limits which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to the Enhancements Portfolio Board and/or where relevant a DfT Investment Board including IPDC.

Appointments

You have appointed a day to day manager for Midlands Rail Hub. He will spend 60% of his time on the project and has delegated responsibility for day-to-day decision making.

He will be responsible for ensuring appropriate progress reporting is in place and is monitored. He will meet regularly with the representatives of Network Rail and Midlands Connect to identify any issues with project delivery and report them to you as appropriate.

Governance and assurance

You should pay attention to ensuring effective governance for the Midlands Rail Hub programme, including the establishment of a Programme Board with appropriate membership and clear terms of reference.

As primary owner, you must ensure that the Midlands Rail Hub programme secures business case approval from IPDC. You should also ensure that the programme remains aligned to the strategic outcomes, costs, timescales, and benefits in line with the approved business case as well as monitoring the context within which the programme is being delivered to ensure it remains valid.

Where a change impacts the scope, costs, benefits, or planned delivery milestones agreed as part of an agreed business case, you are responsible for following the agreed change request approval process and setting a new, approved, business case baseline.

You should ensure that an accounting officer assessment is completed alongside the approval of the Outline Business Case and that this is published on GOV.UK as part of the government’s transparency requirements on major projects. You are responsible for bringing to the attention of the accounting officer any material changes in the Midlands Rail Hub programme which could require a new accounting officer assessment to be completed and published. Guidance on completing accounting officer assessments for major projects is available from HM Treasury.

Although you are directly accountable for this Midlands Rail Hub programme, you are also expected to support delivery of the department’s overall strategic objectives. This means that you are expected to work collaboratively with other SROs and project directors in adjacent projects and programmes and with the Department’s Major Projects Portfolio management office, RNEP portfolio office and portfolio director to manage dependencies, resources, schedules, and funding to support delivery of the overall change the department needs to achieve its strategic objectives.

You should ensure that appropriate and proportionate assurance is in place and agree on the level and frequency of assurance reviews through the maintenance of an integrated assurance and approvals plan. You should develop this plan and its maintenance in collaboration with the Departmental Assurance Coordinator and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

Midlands Rail Hub programme status, reporting and transparency requirements

The Midlands Rail Hub programme status at the date of your appointment is reflected in the most recent quarterly return to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and is the agreed position as you assume formal ownership of the programme.

You are responsible for ensuring the honest and timely reporting on the position of the Midlands Rail Hub programme to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority while it remains on the GMPP and for providing reports and information to the RNEP portfolio management office as required. In future, reporting should include carbon measurement, and other sustainable development goals in accordance with evolving government policy and standards. Information on the Midlands Rail Hub programme will be published annually by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

You are responsible for publishing on GOV.UK a summary of the accounting office assessment completed in line with the approval of the Outline Business Case and summaries of any subsequent assessments should they be required.

Development and support

You should attend the Government Major Project Leadership Academy course as soon as practicable.

You are expected to maintain your continuing professional development as a project leader.

You should gain status as an accredited assurance reviewer. You will be required to participate in a review at least once every 12 months in order to maintain this.

The department will assist you in securing the necessary resources to support the Midlands Rail Hub programme, and will set clear guidance, requirements and standards, which align to the Government Functional Standard on Project Delivery, to enable good governance and effective delivery. You will be part of the department’s cohort of major project leaders who will be expected to support each other, share good practice and lessons learned and to collectively develop solutions. You should liaise with the department’s Head of Profession for project delivery to discuss the maintenance and development of your delivery and leadership skills.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority will be available to you for support, advice, and assurance throughout the Midlands Rail Hub programme’s time on the GMPP.

Following approval of the business case and entry into the next stage of RNEP, IPDC will provide ongoing oversight and support and will take steps to help resolve and escalate risks, issues or constraints that are acting as a blocker to successful delivery.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success in your role as SRO.

Yours sincerely,

[Signed]

Dame Bernadette Kelly DCB

Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport0

[Signed]

Nick Smallwood

Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Confirmation of acceptance of appointment

I confirm that I accept the appointment of Senior Responsible Owner for the Midlands Rail Hub programme, including my personal accountability for implementation, as set out in the letter above.

[Signed]

Stephen Sutcliffe, Programme Director, ECML & Midlands Rail Hub.

16 March 2023