Transparency data

Grenfell site and programme Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) accountability letter

Updated 13 November 2024

Letter sent to: Camilla Sheldon, Senior Responsible Owner for the Grenfell site and programme

Letter sent from: Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Date: 25 July 2024

Subject: Appointment as Senior Responsible Owner for the Grenfell site and programme

We are writing to confirm your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Grenfell Site and Programme with effect from 11 March 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 Richard Goodman, Director General for Safer and Greener Buildings, under the oversight of the Permanent Secretary as accounting officer for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and the Secretary of State.

Your programme forms part of the Safer Greener Buildings, under the oversight of the Chair of the Remediation Portfolio Strategy and Investment Board and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the Grenfell Site and 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 Safer Greener Buildings Portfolio.

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 Grenfell Site and 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 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government Central Portfolio Office.

Time commitment and tenure

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

You are required to undertake this role until achievement of delivering a fitting memorial for the Grenfell community. 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 this programme is to ‘secure effective support for those affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster, delivering the changes this tragedy demands and ensuring people are safe and feel safe within their homes’.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of the Grenfell Site & Programme, monetised and non-monetised benefits are not recorded. This would be insensitive and inappropriate given the context within which the programme operates, and its objective to build a fitting memorial for the bereaved, survivors and Grenfell community that recognises the tragedy of the Grenfell tower fire and honours those who lost their lives.

The programme has robust financial controls in place to monitor spend and ensure adherence to valuing public money principles and VfM rules. This includes internal governance and checks, regular meetings with Treasury, GIAA audits, IPA reviews and yearly AO assessments to ensure public spending is being managed appropriately.

As part of this, the government has committed that the bereaved, survivors and local residents will determine the future memorial. It also committed to take responsibility for the safety and security of the Grenfell Tower site until the land is made ready for future use. The government took ownership of the site in July 2019 and established the Grenfell Site Programme. Its objectives are to:

• oversee the management of the site, including making operational decisions, to ensure it remains safe and secure and is made ready for a future memorial
• ensure that the government meets its public commitment that all decisions will be evidence-based and informed by experts, and that the community will be engaged at every step of the way
• facilitate the independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission. The Commission is made up of representatives of the bereaved, survivors and local residents, will work with the community to agree a consensus on the most fitting and appropriate way to remember those who lost their lives in the Grenfell tragedy.

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

• the successful delivery of the Grenfell Site & Programme within the programme’s vision and objectives
• ensuring the site is managed safely and security to protect those living, studying, and working in close proximity to the site
• meeting the government’s commitment to engage with the community at every step of the way to a fitting and beautiful memorial
• supporting and ensuring the delivery of the community-led Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission’s proposals for the site – a major design and construction project

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 Grenfell Site and Programme. Information on these controls can be found here: Cabinet Office controls.

Delegated authority

• you are authorised to approve expenditure as defined in your delegated authority issued by MHCLG Finance
• you are authorised to agree programme rescheduling as required and to protect the end quality of the project
• you are also responsible for recommending to the GS&P Programme Board the need to either pause or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner. Where issues arise which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to the Director General and the DG led Policy and Delivery Boards.

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 the Accounting Officer.

Appointments

You should appoint a full-time programme director with strong project delivery experience/expertise, ideally with built environment experience, 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 Investment Sub Committee 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 Safer Greener Buildings portfolio management 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.

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 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 Safer Greener Buildings 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.

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 accounting officer assessment completed in line with the approval of the Outline Business Case and summaries of any subsequent assessments should they be required
• a summary of the HM Treasury approved Full Business Case
• a close out report after the programme has completed

Development and support

As SRO of a GMPP programme you are required to complete the Major Projects Leadership Academy, and you have agreed to enrol on a cohort in the near future. The Head of Profession in the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government can provide further information on the application process.

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 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 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.

Following approval of the business case and entry onto the Safer Greener Buildings, the programme board 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,

Sarah Healey
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

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.

Camilla Sheldon, 22 July 2024