Transparency data

Rail Passenger Services programme SRO appointment letter

Updated 20 February 2024

Sender

Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary of Department for Transport

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

Recipient

Peter Wilkinson, Senior Responsible Owner for the Rail Passenger Services programme

Letter

1 December 2022

Dear Peter,

Subject: Appointment as Senior Responsible Owner for the Rail Passenger Services programme

We are writing to confirm your continued appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Rail Passenger Services programme with effect from 1 December 2022. 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, as accounting officer for the Department for Transport, with oversight from the Secretary of State for Transport.

Your Rail Passenger Services programme forms part of the DfT’s central portfolio, under the oversight of the Chair of the Investment Portfolio Delivery Committee (IPDC) and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the Rail Passenger Services 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 programme. You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the programme and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. 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 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 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 the Department for Transport’s Portfolio and Project Delivery Directorate (PPDD).

Time commitment and tenure

This will be a full-time role to enable effective delivery of the role and to enable you to execute your responsibilities in full.

You are required to undertake this role until achievement of the transition to Great British Railways, expected by the end of 2024 but subject to re-timing. 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 facilitate the transition into a new model for the railway that delivers the objectives set out in the Plan for Rail white paper whilst ensuring effective delivery of quality services to passengers via effective contract management of train operating companies (TOCs).

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 programme is to secure the provision of passenger rail services as set out under the Railways Act 1993 (as amended by the Railways Act 2005) and to:

• ensure on-going delivery of quality services for passengers through effective contract management of TOCs, assessing and mitigating critical operating and commercial risks as they emerge
• ensure that a plan with appropriate budget and resources is in place for programme delivery, and that appropriate risk and issue management processes are in place
• provide clear and stable leadership through a period of unprecedented industry, economic, political, financial and operating turbulence whilst preserving a healthy market for rail contracts
• guide the industry through the intense levels of the industrial action being faced, identifying mitigations where possible to limit the effects of strikes and unofficial industrial action
• work across the rail industry to address – and, as achievable, reverse - the decline in train service performance seen on both the infrastructure and train operations
• develop and deliver a migration plan from national rail contracts (NRCs) to passenger services contracts (PSCs), including the design and execution of PSC competitions and associated procurement processes. Bring final recommendations for contract award through the appropriate points of governance (including any post-white paper approved governance points for an interim national rail body) and ultimately to the department’s IPDC and if so approved, to ministers
• deliver additional direct awards where these are necessary to afford sufficient time for PSC competitions to be launched and completed and ensure the operator of last resort (OLR) remains a viable option where a direct award is not made
• oversee the annual business planning process and its outputs to ensure affordability and maximise value for money
• support alignment with wider departmental objectives and policies
• safeguard the safety and security of front-line staff as well as passengers, especially more vulnerable passengers
• support the Director General, Rail Strategy and Services in maintaining alignment with the outputs of the rail transformation programme
• ensure continual improvement and refinement of processes to optimise delivery

Your personal objectives and performance criteria will be linked to specific programme deliverables to be confirmed through ongoing planning activities; these will be agreed with the Director General, Rail Strategy and Services.

You are expected to run your project in accordance with the government functional standard for project delivery, the other functional standards as applicable to this 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 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 Rail Passenger Services. Information on these controls can be found here: Cabinet Office controls.

Delegated authority

You are authorised to:

• approve programme expenditure within the limits set out in your delegation letter
• 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 this must be agreed with IPDC, ministers and Secretary of State as appropriate
• recommend to IPDC, ministers and Secretary of State 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 which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to IPDC, ministers and Secretary of State.

Appointments

You should appoint 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 function 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 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 Passenger Services programme to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and is the agreed position as you continue your 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 portfolio management 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 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 will not be required to complete the Major Projects Leadership Academy because you are already a recognised expert in your field

The department will assist you in securing the necessary resources to support the 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 programme’s time on the GMPP.

The programme is already part of the Department for Transport tier 1 portfolio, IPDC continues to 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

Confirmation 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]

Peter Wilkinson

25 January 2023