Transparency data

Heathrow Expansion programme SRO appointment letter

Updated 1 May 2026

Sender

Jo Shanmugalingam, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport (DfT)

Karina Singh, Government Head of Profession for Project Delivery and the Deputy Government Head of Function for Project Delivery

Recipient

Hannah Newell, Senior Responsible Owner for the Heathrow Expansion Programme

Letter

28 April 2026

Subject: Appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for the Heathrow Expansion Programme

We are writing to confirm your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Heathrow Expansion Programme with effect from September 2025. This letter sets out your responsibilities and the support you can expect from your department, government project delivery and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

As SRO, you are directly accountable to the Aviation, Maritime and Security Director General, under the oversight of Jo Shanmugalingam as Accounting Officer for the Department for Transport, the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander MP and Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation Minister, Keir Mather MP.

Your Heathrow Expansion Programme will follow the Department for Transport’s (DfT) investment approvals governance process, under the oversight of the investment committee and has joined the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) from 1 April 2026.

You have personal responsibility within DfT for enabling the delivery of the Heathrow Expansion Programme and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives, policy intent, and outcomes. This encompasses securing and protecting its vision, ensuring that it is governed responsibly, reported on honestly, escalated appropriately and influencing the context, culture, and operating environment of the programme. You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the programme and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. Where issues arise which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to the Heathrow programme delivery board and the relevant Executive Committee (ExCo) sub-committees.

You remain accountable to ministers, as set out in the Civil Service Code, and should deliver the project in accordance with the objectives and policy intent as set by ministers.

In addition to your internal accountabilities, SROs for GMPP projects and programmes are personally accountable to Parliamentary select committees. This means that, from the date of this letter, you will be held personally accountable to and could be called by select committees to account for and explain the decisions and actions you have taken to deliver the programme.

More information on this is set out in giving evidence to select committees - guidance for Civil Servants, sometimes known as the Osmotherly Rules. Information on the roles and responsibilities of the SRO is detailed in the government project delivery’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner.

You are expected to run your programme in accordance with the government functional standard for project delivery and the requirements of other functional standards as required, which is mandated for government departments and arm’s length bodies to follow. You should also make yourself familiar with the project delivery portal, the teal book, government project delivery’s code of practice for project delivery and any further guidance and requirements set by the project delivery and performance directorate.

Tenure of position

This will be a full-time role to enable effective delivery and the execution of your responsibilities in full.

You are required to undertake this role until the achievement of an operational runway by 2035 or until the responsibilities are transferred. Progress towards this will be reflected in your personal objectives. Any changes to the agreed time commitment or tenure of the role, as set out above, will require both departmental and National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority consent.

Objectives and performance criteria of the Heathrow Expansion Programme

The policy intent and vision supported by this programme is to enable the delivery of a third runway at Heathrow, to be operational by 2035, supported by a development consent order by 2029.

Any proposed changes to scope that impact this intent or the realisation of benefits must be authorised by the Heathrow programme delivery board and may be subject to further levels of approval.

The government’s role in expansion is that of an enabler through the development of relevant public policy areas rather than itself delivering expansion. The promoter will be responsible for undertaking all planning, financing, building and operational related activities (subject to the outcome of any application for a development consent order).

The programme has developed a set of five sub-objectives that set out what the programme is aiming to achieve. These have been agreed with ministers and the Home and Economic Affairs Committee (Infrastructure) and are as follows:

• as quickly as possible, with an ambition for planning permission to be granted during this parliament

• in a way that is consistent with the government’s legal obligations (in particular its environmental and community obligations)

• with minimal cost to the exchequer, and the scheme promoter paying for any elements of the scheme that directly benefit them

• in a way that is cost-effective and economically sustainable, minimising costs for Heathrow’s customers and consumers

• in a way that maximises the wider cross-economy growth opportunities created by the programme

Your personal objectives and performance criteria, which relate to the programme, are:

• continuing to make the case for the Heathrow expansion scheme and wider airspace modernisation

• ensuring arrangements are in place to defend legal challenges

• ensuring a draft Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) is published for consultation by Summer 2026, with the process completed by the end of 2026

• enabling the development and delivery of a development consent order application by developing policies, managing key dependencies and ensuring the best outcome for consumers

• ensuring coordination and integrated senior governance across DfT and other government departments

• providing oversight and coordination with other government departments on all aspects of delivery that they are responsible for

• championing good programme and project management practice, including effective resource deployment, financial controls and development of robust management information

• maintaining strong relationships with all stakeholders, including the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), airlines, communities, local authorities and other interested parties

• leading an inclusive, motivated, and effective team and ensuring the well-being of all staff

Finance and Controls

HM Treasury spending controls will apply on the basis set out within the department’s delegated authority letter. Where the programme exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury, the Treasury approval point process will apply and the details of each approval process must be agreed with your HM Treasury spending team. You should consult departmental finance colleagues on how to go about this.

You should note that where expenditure is considered novel, contentious, repercussive or likely to result in costs to other parts of the public sector, HM Treasury approval will be required, regardless of whether the programme expenditure exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury. If in doubt about whether approval is required, you should, in the first instance, consult departmental finance colleagues before raising it with the relevant HM Treasury spending team.

The overall estimated budget, resourcing requirements and tolerances for your programme will be agreed as part of the approval process. You will be expected to deliver within these tolerances and report quarterly on these as part of GMPP reporting.

You should operate at all times within the rules set out in managing public money. In addition, you must be mindful of, and act in accordance with, the specific HM Treasury delegated limits and Cabinet Office controls relevant to the programme.

Delegated departmental/project authority

You are authorised to:

• approve expenditure within your delegated authority letter

• agree project rescheduling within agreed tolerances, but rescheduling beyond that must be agreed with ministers

• recommend to the director general, accounting officer and ExCo’s sub-committees the need to either pause or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner

These authority limits are subject to change and other conditions or tolerances may be set as part of the business case approval and ongoing monitoring processes, which you should then operate within.

Where issues arise which take you outside of these authority limits, which you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to the accounting officer and ExCo’s sub-committees.

Appointments

You should appoint a full-time programme director to support you in the management of this programme and make other appointments as required for the control and delivery of your programme within your delegated authority.

Governance and assurance

You should pay attention to ensuring effective governance for your programme, including the establishment of a programme board with appropriate membership and clear terms of reference.

As primary owner, you must ensure that the programme secures business case approval from the investment committee as well as the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. You should also ensure that the programme remains aligned to the strategic outcomes, costs, timescales and benefits in line with the approved business case, as well as monitoring the context within which the programme is being delivered to ensure it remains valid.

The business case will set out the government’s role as an enabler through the delivery of relevant policy areas.

Where a change impacts the scope, costs, benefits or planned delivery milestones agreed as part of an agreed business case, you are responsible for following the agreed change request approval process and setting a new, approved business case baseline.

You should ensure that an accounting officer assessment is completed alongside the approval of the outline business case and that this is published on GOV.UK as part of the government’s transparency requirements on major projects. You are responsible for bringing to the attention of the accounting officer any material changes in the programme that could require a new accounting officer assessment to be completed and published. Guidance on completing accounting officer assessments for major projects is available from HM Treasury.

You are responsible for assuring the accounting officer and relevant oversight bodies that the environmental principles policy statement legal duty has been considered by ministers in policy decisions underpinning the programme.

Although you are directly accountable within DfT for enabling delivery within the programme, you are also expected to support delivery of the department’s overall strategic objectives. This means that you are expected to work collaboratively with other SROs and project directors in adjacent projects and programmes and with the DfT’s project delivery and performance directorate and chief project delivery officer, to manage dependencies, resources, schedules and funding to support the delivery of the overall change the department needs to achieve its strategic objectives.

You should ensure that appropriate and proportionate assurance is in place and agree on the level and frequency of assurance reviews through the maintenance of an integrated assurance and approvals plan. You should develop this plan and its maintenance in collaboration with the departmental assurance coordinator and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

Heathrow Expansion Programme status, reporting and transparency requirements

The programme status on the date of your appointment will be reflected in the first quarterly return on the programme to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and is the agreed position as you assume formal ownership of the programme.

You are responsible for ensuring the honest and timely reporting on the position of the programme to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority while it remains on the GMPP and for providing reports and information to DfT’s ExCo sub-committees as required. Reporting should include carbon measurement and other sustainable development goals demonstrating evidence that the project contributes to an overarching environmental strategy and is aligned with defined net zero pathways. The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority will annually publish information on the programme.

As part of the government’s commitment to transparency on major projects, you are responsible for publishing on GOV.UK:

• a summary business case and deposit a copy in the House of Commons library within 4 months of HM Treasury’s formal approval of the full business case

• a summary of the accounting officer assessment completed in line with the approval of the outline business case and summaries of any subsequent assessments should they be required

• a close out report after the programme has completed

Guidance on the publication of business cases and on the completion of accounting officer assessments is available from HM Treasury.

Evaluation

Evaluation of major projects is a requirement. Given the scale and complexity of major projects, they must be evaluated properly to learn lessons and help ensure accountability. As an SRO of a GMPP project, you are responsible for ensuring that your programme has a proportionate and suitably resourced evaluation in place. Evaluation planning should begin from the very start of the policy development and the initiation of the programme. Progress with the development and implementation of evaluation plans will be monitored through the major project assurance process.

You are also responsible for registering all planned, live and completed evaluations on the government evaluation registry. Guidance on using the evaluation registry is available on GOV.UK.

Development and support

As a graduate of the Major Projects Leadership Academy, you are expected to maintain your continuing professional development as a project leader, including your status as an accredited assurance reviewer. To maintain your accreditation, you will be required to participate in a review at least once every 12 months.

The department will assist you in securing the necessary resources to support the programme, and will set clear guidance, requirements and standards, which align with the government functional standard on project delivery, to enable good governance and effective delivery.

You will be part of the department’s cohort of major project leaders who will be expected to support each other, share good practice and lessons learned and collectively develop solutions. You should liaise with the department’s head of profession for project delivery to discuss the maintenance and development of your delivery and leadership skills.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and government project delivery will be available to you for support, advice and assurance throughout the programme’s time on the GMPP. See the government project delivery’s suite of standards, guidance, tools, templates and service for more information and we encourage you and your team to register for accounts

Following approval of the business case and designation as a tier 1 project, the department will provide ongoing oversight and support and will take steps to help resolve and escalate risks, issues or constraints that are acting as a blocker to successful delivery.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success in your role as SRO.

Yours sincerely,

[Signed]

Jo Shanmugalingam

Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport

[Signed]

Karina Singh

Government Head of Profession for Project Delivery and the Deputy Government Head of Function

National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority

Confirmation of acceptance of appointment

I confirm that I accept the appointment of Senior Responsible Owner for the programme, including my personal accountability for implementation, as set out in the letter above.

[Signed]

Hannah Newell

April 2026