GovWire

Tony Poulter has been appointed as a non-executive member of the Department for Transport Board by Transport Secretary, Chris Gayling.

His appointment was confirmed on 19 September following a public recruitment exercise.

Non-executive board members are senior figures from outside government, appointed to provide challenge to government departments. As set out in the governments code of practice, non-executive board members should be appointed directly by the Secretary of State and are not civil servants. Their role is to:

• give advice to ministers and officials on the operational and delivery implications of policy proposals
• provide independent support, guidance and challenge on the progress and implementation of the departments strategic direction
• advise on performance and support the development of key performance indicators to monitor implementation of the Single departmental plan.

Until 30 June 2016, Tony Poulter was a Partner and Global Head of Consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has been a leading adviser on infrastructure financing in the UK and internationally.

Additional information

A fair and open competition for the posts was conducted, with the recruitment and selection process overseen by Sir Ian Cheshire, the governments lead non-executive.

An advertisement for the vacant position of lead non-executive board member and additional non-executives was published on 17 March 2016. The deadline for applications was 22 April 2016.

All shortlisted candidates were subject to a panel-based assessment. The panel for the non-executives comprised the:

• lead non-executive board member
• Permanent Secretary
• Human Resources Director

Recruitment of both the lead non-executive board member and the additional non-executive board members followed the procedures set out in the governments Code of good practice for corporate governance in central government departments and its supporting guidance.

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