Transparency data

Public Ownership Transition Programme SRO appointment letter

Updated 26 March 2025

Sender

Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary of Department for Transport

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

Recipient

Alex Hynes Senior Responsible Owner for the Public Ownership Transition Programme (Railway Passenger Services)

Letter

1 January 2025

Dear Alex,

Subject: appointment as Senior Responsible Owner for the Public Ownership Transition Programme

We are writing to confirm your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Public Ownership Transition Programme with effect from 1 August 2024. 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 the Permanent Secretary, Bernadette Kelly as Principal Accounting Officer for Department for Transport, with oversight from the Secretary of State and Minister for Rail.

Your Public Ownership Transition Programme forms part of the DfT’s Central Portfolio, under the oversight 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 Public Ownership Transition Programme and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives, policy intent and outcomes. 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 programme. You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the programme and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. Where issues arise that, you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to the department’s Investment Committee (IPDC and/or Executive Committee (ExCo) and ministers.

We recognise that the programme relies significantly on policy input the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, the development of the schedule for the transitions and the development of a new service agreement which forms the basis on which the transferring train operations will be performed, which Conrad Bailey is accountable for, as DG for Public Transport Local Group (PTLG). An accounting officer letter has been sent to Conrad Bailey setting out his accountabilities within this programme.

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 Public Ownership Transition Programme.

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 government project delivery’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner. You are expected to run your programme in accordance with the government functional standard for project delivery and the requirements of other functional standards as required, which is mandated for government departments and arm’s length bodies to follow. You should also make yourself familiar with the teal book, government project delivery’s code of practice for project delivery, and any further guidance and requirements set by the Department for Transport’s portfolio and project delivery directorate (PPDD).

Time commitment and tenure

This role would typically require 50% of your time to enable effective delivery of the role and execute your responsibilities in full. However, we have agreed to waive that requirement in this instance because you have appointed a dedicated, full time, very experienced Programme Director, Matt Lodge to support you to deliver this role and to assist you to execute your responsibilities to the programme. Matt will be spending 80 to 90% of his time dedicated to the programme. In light of Matt’s commitment, this role will, therefore, require 10% of your time to ensure effective delivery and full execution of your responsibilities.

You are required to undertake this role until the last of the train operations currently operated in the private sector have been returned to public ownership, planned for October 2027 or the end of your secondment to the department, whichever is earlier. 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 and Projects Authority consent.

Objectives and performance criteria

The policy intent supported by this programme is to support the rail sector transformation programme to improve our railways, delivering against 6 objectives which are: reliable, affordable, efficient, quality, accessible and safe.

Any proposed changes to scope that impact 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 programme is to support the Secretary of State’s strategic transport priorities by enabling efficient future implementation of rail reform end-state policy and operating model, and its objectives are to:

• effect the disruption free transfer of ten privately owned operations into public ownership by the end of 2027 while ensuring overall value for money for the taxpayer
• include in the service agreement for publicly owned operations appropriate incentives, oversight and governance to give confidence that public operators will drive up performance standards for passengers while also delivering good value for taxpayers

Your personal objectives and performance criteria which relate to the public ownership transition programme are:

• to provide overall programme leadership, strategic direction, and decision-making, and ensuring alignment with any changes in political or business priorities
• hold to account those responsible for public ownership transition programme delivery
• appoint, advise and coach the programme director to lead day-to-day programme delivery on your behalf
• provide oversight and guidance to the programme director in ensuring the programme is governed responsibly, assured and scrutinised appropriately, reported honestly and escalated as necessary
• the realisation of programme outcomes and benefits. The programme director will ensure that benefits management processes are established and maintained
• you will appoint a qualified rail sector transformation board to bring diverse perspectives to the programme, which you will chair
• you will be the owner of the programme delivery plan which will be developed and maintained by the programme director. You will ensure that the programme director has the right environment and that the delivery plan has the appropriate budget, resources, risk and issue management and assurance processes in place
• owning the programme’s business case and assuring ongoing viability, any significant concerns about feasibility, value for money, resourcing, regularity or propriety are to be referred to the accounting officer
• ensuring cross-programme alignment and integration through collaboration with relevant rail sector stakeholders and organisations
• ensure coherence and consider the high-level rail sector transformation policy and strategy issues​
• supporting alignment with wider departmental objectives and policies

Extent and limit of accountability

Finance and controls

HM Treasury (HMT) spending controls will apply on the basis set out within the department’s delegated authority letter. Where the 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 public ownership transition.

Delegated authority

You are authorised to:

• Approve expenditure as set out in your delegation letter. You are authorised to agree programme rescheduling, provided you are satisfied that the expenditure can be accommodated under the annual expenditure limit, as agreed with Treasury in which the rescheduled expenditure would now fall. Rescheduling beyond that must be agreed with IPDC or ExCo, ministers and Secretary of State for Transport as appropriate.
• Recommend to IPDC or ExCo, ministers and Secretary of State for Transport the need to either pause or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner.

These authority limits are subject to change and other conditions or tolerances may be set as part of the business case approval and ongoing monitoring processes which you should then operate within.

Where issues arise which take you outside of these authority limits that you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to the IPDC or ExCo, ministers and Secretary of State for Transport.

Appointments

You have appointed a full-time programme director to support you in the management of this programme and make other appointments as required for the control and delivery of your programme within your delegated authority.  

Governance and assurance

You should pay attention to ensuring effective governance for your programme, including the establishment of a programme board with appropriate membership and clear terms of reference.

As primary owner, you must ensure that the programme secures business case approval from IPDC, Cabinet Office and HMT. 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 are responsible for providing assurance to the accounting officer and relevant oversight bodies that the Environmental Principles Policy Statement legal duty has been considered by ministers in policy decision underpinning the project/programme.

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 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 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 Portfolio and project delivery directorate 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.

Programme status, reporting and transparency requirements

The programme status at the date of your appointment is reflected in the most recent quarterly return on the rail sector transformation programme 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 programme to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority while it remains on the GMPP and for providing reports and information to the Department for Transport central portfolio office as required. Reporting should include carbon measurement, and other sustainable development goals demonstrating evidence that the project contributes to an overarching environmental strategy and is aligned with defined net zero pathways. Information on the programme will be published annually by the Infrastructure and Projects

As part of the government’s commitment to transparency on major infrastructure projects, you are responsible for publishing on GOV.UK a:

• summary of the HM Treasury approved full business case
• close out report after the programme has completed

You are also responsible for registering all planned, live and completed evaluations on the Government evaluation registry.

Development and support

As SRO of a GMPP, you have completed the orchestrating major projects programme which provides training for senior officials who sponsor and are accountable for major project delivery.

To widen experience and understanding of the role, SROs are also expected to become accredited assurance reviewers and to lead or participate in such reviews for other government departments, the wider public sector and other areas of the Department for Transport as appropriate. Becoming an assurance reviewer and completing a review will form part of your time at the Major Projects Leadership Academy. To maintain your accreditation, you will be required to participate in a review at least once every 12 months.

The department will assist you in securing the necessary resources to support the programme and will set clear guidance, requirements and standards, which align with 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 programme’s time on the GMPP.

Following approval of the business case and entry onto the Department for Transport Tier 1 Portfolio, IPDC and ExCo 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 Transport

[Signed]

Nick Smallwood

Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Conformation of acceptance of appointment

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

[Signed]

Alex Hynes

Director General Rail Services Group

11 March 2025