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Organisational structure

Highways Agency Board Structure

Download the HA Board Structure (PDF 334KB) and Organisation Chart (143KB PDF) or view as an image by clicking on the thumbnail:

 

The Highways Agency's Board and its three supporting sub-groups have a single programme of work, ensuring close alignment and linkage of items discussed in senior management meetings and in corporate communications.

The groups are used to capture the views of the wider senior management team, with regular rotation of membership amongst the team. The three sub-groups and their main functions are:

People Skills and Property Sub-Group (PSP)1

Provides direction and momentum to change activity in the Highways Agency. The group looks at major cross-cutting initiatives, and champions business improvement and innovation.

Strategy and Business Planning Sub-Group (SPG)1

Establishes and maintains the medium to long term (3 to 10 years) strategic planning framework which will support the Agency's corporate, business and management planning.

Delivery of Investment Programme Sub-Group (DIP)1

To provide assurance that investment, output and efficiency commitments can be delivered in-year and over the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period.

Audit Committee2

In addition, the Highways Agency has a separate Audit Committee which advises the HA Board on key risks and control issues.

Corporate Governance

An integral part of delivering improved service is to ensure that the Highways Agency continues to operate sound mechanisms for internal control through:

  • Planning procedures to ensure future programmes are aligned with government policy and our strategic direction.
  • Clear capital investment control mechanisms, supported by techniques such as investment appraisal, value management and value engineering.
  • Clear, consistent, continuously improved and compliant processes.
  • Sound project management and project sponsorship disciplines.
  • Procurement processes that reflect best practice and best value.
  • Established management processes for project management and information technology security.
  • Transparent processes and checks in place to ensure effective corporate governance.
  • Sound asset management processes, including management of our property portfolio.

Risk management

The Board identifies and actively manages the major operational and strategic risks facing the Highways Agency and has action plans to manage them.

During the year, action by the Board substantially reduced our exposure to many of these risks. The current top risks are in the areas of:

  • Ensuring the safety of the Highways Agency's staff and supply chain.
  • Maintaining stakeholder confidence in the Highways Agency.
  • Failure to secure the necessary funding to deliver our objectives as expected by stakeholders.
  • Disruption of the network arising from a major traffic, security or freak weather incident, adversely affecting the PSA congestion target and Highway's Agency reputation.
  • Providing trusted, reliable, useful and effective management and other information and achieving the required standards of information security.
  • Shortage of appropriately skilled people in the Highways Agency or supply chain leading to failure to deliver outcomes and targets.
  • Ensuring the M25 Widening project goes ahead as planned.
  • Enforcement of speed restrictions for traffic management through arrangements with police forces may be unsustainable.

Directors may also highlight major risks from their parts of the business where they need to:

  • Give assurance that a major risk is under control.
  • Raise the need for action by the Board to manage a risk.

These risks are added to the Board's corporate risk log. All business areas also report their key risks to the Board with their performance reports as a matter of routine.

1PSP, SPB and DIP membership is made up of members of the Executive Group and Highways Agency Senior Management and chaired by a Non Executive Director. 

2The Audit Committee is made up of the three Non Executive Directors, one of whom chairs it. The Chief Executive, Finance Director, Head of Internal Audit and representatives from the DfT and National Audit Office attend but have no vote. The independent chairman of the Audit Committee advises as appropriate on key risk and control issues.