Transparency data

Digitising Social Care Programme: SRO appointment letter

Published 22 October 2024

To: Alice Ainsworth, Deputy Director, Adult Social Care Technology Policy

From: Andy Brittain, Acting Second Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority

22 July 2024

Appointment as senior responsible owner for the Digitising Social Care Programme

Dear Alice,

We are writing to confirm your appointment as senior responsible owner (SRO) of the Digitising Social Care Programme with effect from 27 July 2022. This letter sets out your responsibilities and the support you can expect from your department and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

As SRO, you are directly accountable to Andy Brittain as the Acting Second Permanent Secretary for DHSC and the accounting officer for the Digitising Social Care Programme. This is under the oversight of the Permanent Secretary as principal accounting officer for DHSC and Stephen Kinnock MP as the Minister of State for Social Care.

Your programme forms part of the adult social care reform portfolio under the oversight of Michelle Dyson as Director General for Adult Social Care and executive owner for adult social care reform. Your programme is delivered through the NHS England Transformation Directorate, under the oversight of Felix Greaves as the NHS England executive sponsor and director of the Digital Policy Unit. Your programme reports to the department’s Portfolio Oversight Board and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the programme and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives with the policy intent and outcomes expected. This encompasses securing and protecting its vision, ensuring that it is governed responsibly, reported on honestly, escalated appropriately and for 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 that you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to the NHS England executive sponsor, DHSC executive owner and the department’s Portfolio Oversight Board.

You remain accountable to ministers, as set out in the Civil Service Code, and should deliver the programme 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, Parliamentary select committees to account for and explain the decisions and actions you have taken to deliver the programme.

It is important to be clear that your accountability relates only to implementation, within the agreed terms set out in this letter - it will remain for the minister to account for the relevant policy decisions and development.

More information on this is set out in Giving Evidence to Select Committees: guidance for civil servants, which is sometimes known as the Osmotherly Rules. Information on the roles and responsibilities of the SRO are detailed in the Infrastructure and Project Authority’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner. You should also make yourself familiar with the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, the requirements of the Government Project Delivery Framework, and the guidance and requirements for project delivery as set by DHSC’s Major Projects Portfolio.

Time commitment and tenure

This role will require at least 50% of your time to enable effective delivery of the role and execute your responsibilities in full.

You are required to undertake this role until the close of the programme which is expected to be in March 2025 - with programme closure before March 2026. 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 Infrastructure and Projects Authority consent.

Objectives and performance criteria

The digital transformation of adult social care is central to achieving our vision of delivering outstanding quality, personalised care and support as laid out in the People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform white paper.

The objectives of the GMPP programme are to:

• drive rapid adoption of digital social care records - this will enable secure sharing of information across health and care services and will free up time for care staff and managers. The goal is that 80% of adult social care providers and 80% of people receiving adult social care services will have a digital social care record by March 2025

• test, evaluate and scale technologies based on local priorities, building the evidence base for future investment - this will increase the use of technologies that improve the quality and safety of care, reduce avoidable hospital admissions and promote independent living

Any proposed change to scope which impacts on this intent or the realisation of benefits must be authorised by the Digitising Social Care Programme Board and may be subject to further levels of approval (dependent on the impact of the change).

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

• delegated authority of the programme budget as baselined through your approved programme business case
• accountability for the programme and realisation of desired outcomes and benefits
• accountability for management of the programme as a GMPP including ensuring appropriate governance is in place and chairing the programme board
• owning programme risks, issues and dependencies and assuring ongoing viability of the programme through a programme business case, and overseeing approvals processes and communicating the programme vision
• oversight of sector operational readiness and taking ‘go’ or ‘no go’ decisions at key milestones
• building strong relationships with key cross-Whitehall and sector stakeholders to support successful delivery and manage key risks
• escalating to the NHS England executive sponsor and DHSC executive owner where tolerances are breached or where decisions or risks have cross-portfolio implications

You are expected to run your project in accordance with the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery, the other functional standards as applicable to this programme and the requirements of the Government Project Delivery Framework. Further detail on your role and responsibilities as SRO are set out in the Infrastructure and Project Authority’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner, and you are expected to follow that guidance, and other guidance from the Infrastructure and Project Authority on the management of major projects.

You will be supported in your role as SRO by one programme director and a Programme Management Office. You should agree respective accountabilities and responsibilities with your programme director and set these out in a letter of appointment which should be reviewed at least annually or if there are significant changes to the programme.

Extent and limit of accountability

You will be personally accountable to Parliamentary select committees and be expected to explain the decisions and actions you have taken. This could include where a minister has intervened to change the project during the implementation phase in a way which has implications for the cost and/or timeline of implementation. You will be able to disclose your advice about any such changes.

Other accountabilities are set out below.

1. 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 with the relevant HM Treasury spending team.

The budget for the programme is set out within your approved programme business case. Tolerances for all programmes within the adult social care reform portfolio have been agreed and have been set out below. You will be expected to deliver within these tolerances and report quarterly on spend against budget as part of GMPP reporting.

Tolerances

You must escalate to the NHS England executive sponsor and DHSC executive owner if any of the following are true:

• in relation to time - any forecast change to baselined tier 0 and tier 1 milestones, which may include:
  • business case approvals
  • major legislative events
  • ‘go’ or ‘no go’ decisions
  • key ministerial decisions
• in relation to cost:
  • a forecast under-spend of the programme of more than 5% (in year or whole life)
  • any forecast over-spend of the programme (in year or whole life)
  • note that as long as proposed changes are not novel, contentious or repercussive, programme boards can agree for budgets for individual constituent projects to flex by plus or minus 20% or £5 million (whichever is greater) within a given financial year as long as no other tolerances are breached​
• in relation to scope - any forecast deviation from the investment objectives or public commitments as described in the approved business case
• in relation to benefits - any predicted change to the timescale or value of the benefits as described in the approved business case

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 Digitising Social Care Programme. Information on these controls can be found in Cabinet Office Controls.

2. Delegated authority

You are authorised to:

• approve expenditure of £5 million subject to business case approvals and compliance with the relevant Standing Financial Instructions within DHSC
• approve changes to tier 2 milestones - so long as these changes do not materially impact the tolerance rules set out above. Rescheduling of plans that take the end date beyond 31 March 2025 would need to be agreed with the NHS England executive sponsor, DHSC executive owner, the department’s Portfolio Oversight Board and ministers
• recommend to the NHS England executive sponsor and DHSC executive owner the need to either pause or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner

These authority limits may be subject to change and other conditions 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 to the NHS England executive sponsor, DHSC executive owner and the department’s Portfolio Oversight Board.

Appointments

You should maintain the appointment of 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 DHSC Investment Committee, HM Treasury as well as any relevant Cabinet Office spend controls. 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.

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 Digitising Social Care Programme which 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.

Although you are directly accountable for this 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 DHSC portfolio management office and portfolio directors to manage dependencies, resources, schedules and funding to support 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 co-ordinator and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

Programme status, reporting and transparency requirements

The programme status at the date of your appointment is reflected in the most recent quarterly return on the programme to the Infrastructure and Projects 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 Infrastructure and Projects Authority while it remains on the GMPP and for providing reports and information to the DHSC portfolio management office as required.

You are responsible for publishing on GOV.UK 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.

Development and support

As SRO of a GMPP programme, you have completed the Major Projects Leadership Academy. You are also expected to maintain your continuing professional development as a project leader.

To widen experience and understanding of the role, SROs are also expected to become accredited assurance reviewers and to lead or participate in such reviews for other government departments, the wider public sector and other areas of health and social care as appropriate. Becoming an assurance reviewer and completing a review was part of your time at the Major Projects Leadership Academy. 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 to 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, lessons learned and to collectively develop solutions. You should liaise with the department’s Head of Profession to discuss the maintenance and development of your delivery and leadership skills.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority will be available to you for support, advice and assurance throughout the programme’s time on the GMPP.

Following approval of the business case and entry onto the DHSC portfolio, the Portfolio Oversight Board (supported by the NHS England Executive Transformation Group and Adult Social Care Reform Delivery Forum) 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,

Andy Brittain, Acting Second Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care

Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure and Projects 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.

Alice Ainsworth, Director, Adult Social Care Technology Policy

18 September 2024