Highways Agency

Relationship with our parent department

The Highways Agency is sponsored by the Department for Transport. Our chief executive is a member of the Department’s Management Board. Following the Nichols review and the department’s capability review we are working together to strengthen the relationship between the Department and the Highways Agency and to clarify roles and responsibilities.

Highways Agency board structure

View organisation chart.

The Highways Agency board and its five 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 five sub groups and their main functions are:

Highways Agency transformation group (ATG)

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 across the Highways Agency . Performance delivery and investment group (PDIG) Manages a framework for in-year performance management, improves cost management, and develops and improves the investment appraisal process.

Strategy and planning group (SPG)

Oversees a long-term (10 years +) strategic planning framework which directly infl uences the agency’s corporate, business and management planning (including customer-focus) over the next three years and beyond.

National operations group (NOG)

The group is initially focused on delivery of the journey time reliability target, and will develop to oversee the other operational targets.

Note: ATG and SPG are made up of five Board members including one non-executive, (PDIG: 4 directors, one nonexecutive),
and several members of the agency’s senior management. The NOG is made up of five directors and
several members of the agency’s senior management.

Audit Committee

Advises the board on key risks and control issues.

Note: The Audit Committee is made up of two of the non-executive directors, one of whom chairs it, and three Highways
Agency Board members. The Chief Executive, Head of Internal Audit, Finance Director and representatives from the
DfT and National Audit Offi ce attend but have no vote. The independent chairman of the Audit Committee advises as
appropriate on key risk and control issues.

Corporate governance

An integral part of delivering improved service is to ensure that the 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 refl ect 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 identifi es and actively manages the major corporate 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 confi dence in the agency
• Justifying or obtaining the necessary funding to deliver our objectives as expected by stakeholders
• Action to meet the PSA reliability target demonstrating reduced levels of congestion
• Disruption of the network arising from a major traffic or security incident
• External factors blocking or delaying decisions to proceed with major schemes
• 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 and/or excessive turnover of staff
• Cultural issues delaying or preventing organisational change

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.