Transparency data

DfT: business appointment rules advice – April to June 2025

Updated 25 September 2025

April to June 2025

Hannah Watson

Full name of applicant	Hannah Watson
Title of former Civil Service role	HR Director, Change and Organisational Design
Date left the Civil Service	31 May 2025
New employer	Joseph Rountree Foundation
New appointment/employment (including when taken up)	Chief People Officer, 9 June 2025
Department’s decision on the application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied)	• you should not draw upon (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself, your prospective employer or their clients, partners or subsidiaries) any privileged information available to you from your time in Crown Service • for 2-years from your last day in Crown Service, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the Department for Transport (or any of its arms length bodies) on behalf of Joseph Rountree Foundation, their clients, partners or subsidiaries, nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in government and/or Crown service, or contacts developed during Crown Service in other governments or organisations, to influence government policy, or secure business or funding on their behalf. This does not preclude routine contact on matters aligned with government policy

Victoria O’Brien

Full name of applicant	Victoria O’Brien
Title of former Civil Service role	Deputy Director – Delivery Strategy and Project Controls
Date left the Civil Service	27 June 2025
New employer	Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd
New appointment/employment (including when taken up)	Associate Project Director, 30 June 2025
Department’s decision on the application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied)	• you should not draw upon (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself, your prospective employer or their clients, partners or subsidiaries) any privileged information available to you from your time in Crown Service • for 2-years from your last day in Crown Service, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the Department for Transport (or any of its arms length bodies) on behalf of Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd, their clients, partners or subsidiaries, nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in government and/or Crown service, or contacts developed during Crown Service in other governments or organisations, to influence government policy, or secure business or funding on their behalf. This does not preclude routine contact on matters aligned with government policy • for 2-years from your last day in Crown Service, you should not provide advice to any company or organisation in the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of, a bid or contract relating directly to the work of DfT or its arms length bodies including being named as part of the project team for any bid to be submitted to DfT during this period, unless specifically requested and agreed by DfT for specific activities only • for 2-years from your last day in Crown Service you should not be directly involved in managing or overseeing contracts with, or having project control responsibility for work with companies relating to DfT led activity, unless specifically requested and agreed by DfT for specific activities only

Priya Rane

Full name of applicant	Priya Rane
Title of former Civil Service role	Special Adviser (Media)
Date left the Civil Service	29 November 2024
New employer	Trades Union Congress
New appointment/employment (including when taken up)	Head of Media and News, 1 April 2025
Department’s decision on the application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied)	• you should not draw upon (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself, your prospective employer or their clients, partners or subsidiaries) any privileged information available to you from your time in Crown Service • for 2-years from your last day in Crown Service, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the Department for Transport (or any of its arms length bodies) on behalf of Trades Union Congress, their clients, partners or subsidiaries, nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in government and/or Crown service, or contacts developed during Crown Service in other governments or organisations, to influence government policy, or secure business or funding on their behalf. This does not preclude routine contact on matters aligned with government policy • in addition, you must inform the Permanent Secretary’s office if you wish to undertake any new appointments (whether paid or unpaid), during the 2-years following your last day in Crown service and we will advise you on whether a further business appointment rules application is required. You must do this before accepting any new offer of employment or appointment

Edward Leech

Full name of applicant	Edward Leech
Title of former Civil Service role	Special Adviser
Date left the Civil Service	24 May 2024
New employer	East West Railway Company
New appointment/employment (including when taken up)	Head of Political Relations, 14 April 2025
Department’s decision on the application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied)	Unconditional approval