These documents support item D 2.1 on at the November 2016 Board meeting held in Birmingham on 16 November 2016. The other supporting documents can be found here.

The governance of Transport Focus is a matter that concerns Board, staff and third parties. This latter group not only includes the sponsor Department, Government Internal Audit Agency and National Audit Office, but also wider stakeholders, who should know that practical, proportionate arrangements are in place to ensure that decisions made are the best we can manage and that checks and balances are in place to review and, where necessary, challenge those decisions.

Proportionality goes hand in hand with sound processes. If process dominates unreasonably, we risk our capacity for flexibility and agility, and in a quickly moving and ever more competitive world it is this capacity which may ultimately make the difference between being at the front or lagging behind. But processes can also distinguish between those who consider proposals carefully – especially in respect of upside and downside risk – and those who fail because of inadequate foresight and scrutiny.

These governance arrangements attempt to balance these needs, draw upon more than a decade of experience and are set in circumstances which mean the resources to deliver them must be taken into account.

I trust that bringing them together in one place is helpful.

Jon Carter, Head of Business Services