Smart Meters Implementation Programme: SRO appointment letter
Source: data.gov.uk (2022-06-21)

Government Major Projects Portfolio Senior Responsible Owners. The government is committed to publishing lists of the SROs for projects on the GMPP.
To address this commitment the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) publishes lists of the SROs responsible for government major projects.
This list may be searched to locate the names of Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) of the Department's projects with fall within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

David Blackall 
Acting Chief Executive 
Major Projects Authority 
1 Horse Guards Road 
London SW1A 2HQ 
T: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
E: xxx@xxx.xx
Stephen Lovegrove 
Permanent Under-Secretary 
of State 
Department of Energy &  
Climate Change  
3 Whitehall Place 
London  
SW1A 2AW 
T: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
E:xxx@xxx.xx 
www.gov.uk/decc
Date:  26 March 2015 
Daron Walker 
 Senior Responsible Owner for Smart Meters  
Implementation Programme  
APPOINTMENT AS SENIOR RESPONSIBLE OWNER (SRO) FOR  
THE SMART METERS IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME 
This letter formalises your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of 
the Smart Meters Implementation Programme.  These responsibilities form part 
of your role as Director, Smart Meters & Fuel Poverty, for which you are 
accountable to Clive Maxwell who is accountable to Stephen Lovegrove.  The 
responsible Minister for your programme is Baroness Verma.  The work of the 
programme is overseen by the Department’s Executive Committee and its three 
sub-committees.  Your role as SRO will be reflected in the objectives you agree 
with Clive Maxwell.  You will be expected to commit 50% of your time to this 
role alongside your other responsibilities, depending on the phase of the 
project, and are accountable for ensuring that the programme is governed in 
line with DECC’s governance framework. The principles set out in the revised 
Osmotherly Guidance, published in October 2014 will also apply from the date 
of this letter. 
The revised Osmotherly Guidance, establishes that SROs for major projects will 
be directly accountability to Parliament for the implementation of the project.  
Once the project is in its implementation phase, you will be expected to account 
for and explain the decisions and actions you have taken to deliver the 
programme, for which you have personal responsibility, against the business 
case, within the context of the Department’s corporate objectives and as a 
member of the Department’s senior leadership team.  It will remain for the 
responsible Minister to account for the relevant policy decisions and 
development, including accounting for decisions that materially affect the 

programme’s business case, though the guidance makes clear that as SRO you 
are expected to be able to explain such decisions.   
 
A description of generic SRO roles and responsibilities is attached at Annex A 
and you are expected to follow the principles it sets out.  You will also want to 
familiarise yourself with the guidance “Giving Evidence to Select Committees – 
Guidance for Civil Servants” and with the Major Projects Authority (MPA) 
guidance on management of major projects: 
(https://www.gov.uk/government/policy-teams/major-projects-authority). 
Your accountability to Parliament sits alongside your accountabilities under the 
Civil Service Code, your role in supporting the Accounting Officer, and your 
membership of the DECC Senior Leadership Team.  
Tenure of position 
You are expected to remain in post at least until the end of 2016 but your tenure 
in this post will be regularly reviewed with Clive Maxwell, taking into account the 
benefits of continuity, the capability needed to lead this programme through its 
development, planning, delivery and evaluation phases; the length of these 
phases, your development as a member of the project delivery profession within 
the Civil Service, and the Department’s ability to deploy its senior leadership 
team appropriately.  You should ensure that you have agreed with Clive 
Maxwell appropriate succession planning for key personnel in the programme. 
Objectives and Performance Criteria  
The policy intent supported by this programme is for every home in Great Britain 
to have smart electricity and gas meters by 2020. Smart Meters will give 
consumers up-to-date information about how much gas and/or electricity they 
have used in pounds and pence, as well as units of energy.  Smart meters will 
have benefits for consumers, suppliers and energy networks. Consumers will 
have near real-time information about their energy use, enabling them to 
monitor and manage their energy consumption, save money and reduce carbon 
emissions.  Switching between suppliers will also be made simpler. Energy 
suppliers will have access to accurate data for billing and will be able to offer a 
wider range of services and tariffs.  Energy networks will have better information 
to manage and plan current activities and support the move towards the 
development of a smart grid.  
Proposed changes to the project scope which impact on this intent or benefits 
realisation must be authorised by your DG and may be subject to further levels 
of approval. Your objectives and performance criteria with respect to this 
programme are reflected in your performance agreement form, agreed with 
Clive Maxwell. 
Extent and limit of accountability 
Finance and Controls 
The overall budget for the Smart Meters Implementation Programme is set out 
in your letter of Delegated Authority; this is issued to you annually by the 

Department’s finance team and may be updated from time to time.  This letter is 
the means by which you are held to account for the budgets and other 
resources for which you are responsible. 
The allocation of departmental resources is subject to review each year during 
business planning and as SRO you are expected to engage actively in the 
business planning process.  The Department explicitly recognises that you will 
need to balance your responsibilities in respect of the programme with your 
responsibilities relating to the wider work of the department as part of DECC’s 
cadre of senior leaders.  Decisions on resource allocation will reflect the need to 
strike a balance across the entirety of DECC’s portfolio of programmes.   
HMT spending controls will apply on the basis set out within DECC’s delegated 
authority letter. Where the Smart Meters Implementation Programme exceeds 
the delegated authority set by HMT, the Treasury Approval Point process will 
apply and the details of each approval process must be agreed with your HMT 
spending team. You should consult departmental finance colleagues on how to 
go about this.  
You should also note that where expenditure is considered novel, contentious, 
repercussive or likely to result in costs to other parts of the public sector, HMT 
approval will be required, regardless of whether the programme expenditure 
exceeds the delegated authority set by HMT. If in doubt about whether approval 
is required you should, in the first instance, consult departmental finance 
colleagues before raising with the relevant HMT spending team. 
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 Treasury delegated limits and Cabinet Office controls relevant to the 
[project/programme name] project / programme.  Information on these controls 
can be found here: Cabinet Office controls. 
Delegated departmental/project authority  
You are authorised to approve expenditure in line with your delegated authority 
letter. 
You should use your programme’s governance framework, in conjunction with 
the Department’s governance framework, as the means by which any 
necessary authorisation is sought for any changes to your programme’s scope, 
milestones or scheduling.  This may include recommending the need to either 
pause or terminate the programme where necessary in a timely manner.  
Where issues arise which you are unable to resolve within delegated 
responsibilities, you are responsible for escalating these issues to Clive 
Maxwell, the Accounting Officer and to the Executive Committee or its 
supporting committees as appropriate in a timely manner. 

Project Status   
The Project Status at the date of your appointment is reflected in the most 
recent quarterly return on the programme to the Major Projects Authority.  This 
is the agreed position as you assume formal ownership of the programme.  
Programme progress is reviewed regularly by the Department’s Executive 
Committee or its supporting committees.  You should take active steps to 
ensure you escalate in a timely manner any significant issues that will materially 
affect the delivery of the programme for which you are responsible as set out in 
the business case. 
Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA)  
As SRO of a GMPP programme, you will be required to enrol on the MPLA. You 
will be contacted shortly to discuss this.  
As an MPLA graduate you will be expected to become accredited Major Project 
reviewers and to lead or participate in such reviews for other Government 
departments, the wider public sector or other areas of DECC as appropriate. 
You will be required to participate in such reviews at least once every 12 
months to maintain your accreditation. 
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you success in your role as SRO. 
Yours sincerely, 
Stephen Lovegrove 
Permanent Secretary, DECC 
David Blackall
 Acting Chief Executive, Major 
Projects Authority 
I confirm that I accept the details of my role, including my personal 
accountability for implementation of the project, as detailed in the letter above.  
Name of SRO:  Daron Walker 
Signature of SRO: Email confirmation received  
Date:  20 March 2015 

Annex A  
SRO Role and Responsibilities  
The Role of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO)  
You are personally accountable for ensuring the ongoing delivery of the 
Smart Meters Implementation Programme. You are responsible for securing 
the resources necessary for the success of the project within those available 
to DECC and for the ensuring that the related implementation and transition 
activities realise the agreed objectives and benefits. In doing so you should 
balance the need to support the Accounting Officer to help DECC reach an 
affordable settlement which reflects the department’s priorities and to deliver 
value for money across DECC. 
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.  
You must ensure the effectiveness of the governance, assurance and project 
management arrangements and maintain them throughout the life of the 
programme. You should adopt best practice and be prepared to justify any 
deviation from it, in line with guidance published by the Cabinet Office.  
An SRO will:  
 Be a visible, engaged and active project leader, not a figurehead;  
 Deliver the agreed outcomes and benefits;  
 Create an open, honest and positive culture committed to delivering at pace;  
 Challenge senior officers and Ministers when appropriate and escalate quickly;  
 Provide appropriate support, steer and strategic focus to the Project Director 
and ensure that they have a clear and current letter of appointment; and  
 Have sufficient time, experience and the right skills to carry the full 
responsibilities of the role.  
Specific SRO accountabilities:  
Ensure that the project is set up for success  
 Ensure that the project is set-up to make an unambiguous and demonstrable 
link to strategic policy;  
 Translate this policy intent into clear deliverables which are established and 
agreed with senior stakeholders;  
 Carry out a robust and commercially viable options appraisal, which balances 
risk with opportunity, as part of initial project feasibility;  
 Establish a firm business case for the project during the initiation/definition 
phase and ensure that any planned change continues to be aligned with the 
strategic need;  

 Identify and secure the necessary investment for the business case (this 
includes both budget and operational resource);  
 Design and implement robust, appropriate and transparent project governance;  
 Build strong and effective relationships with key stakeholders, justifying their 
trust and retaining their confidence, and obtain their commitment to benefits 
realisation.  
Ensure that the project meets its objectives and delivers the projected benefits  
 Gain agreement to the project objectives and benefits amongst stakeholders, 
including Ministers where appropriate;  
 Understand the broader government perspective and its impact on the project;  
 Ensure the strategic fit of the project objectives and benefits;  
 Agree a clear and simple approach to performance management and monitor 
delivery of the objectives and benefits, taking appropriate action where 
necessary to ensure their successful delivery.  
Develop the project organisation structure and plan  
 Ensure that there is a coherent organisation structure and appropriately detailed 
project plan;  
 Build the right team, securing necessary resources and skills and providing 
clear lines of accountability;  
 Provide appropriate support, steer and strategic focus to the Project Director.  
Monitor and take control of progress 
 Monitor and control the progress of the project at a strategic level, being honest 
and frank about project progress, risks and issues; Ensure that any changes to 
agreed project benefits are flagged appropriately within project governance and 
that the business case is updated accordingly (throughout project life-cycle);  
 Ensure that the integrity of the project is maintained and speak truth to power – 
including to Parliamentary Select Committees;  
 Communicate effectively with senior stakeholders regarding project progress 
and provide clear, appropriate and delivery-focused decisions and advice to the 
Project Director.  
Ensure problem resolution and referral processes are appropriate and effective  
 Identify, understand and drive the successful mitigation of project risks;  
 Escalate serious issues quickly and with confidence to senior management 
and/or Ministers;  
 Develop strong and effective engagement between the project team and its 
stakeholders and sponsors;  
 Ensure that communication processes are effective and that the project’s 
objectives and deliverables continue to be consistent with the organisation’s 
strategic direction.  

Ensure that the project or programme is subject to review at appropriate stages  
 Recognise the value of robust project review and ensure it occurs at key points 
in the project lifecycle, particularly at the initiation stage;  
 Make certain that any recommendations or concerns from reviews are met or 
addressed in a timely manner;  
 In the event of a “red” or “amber-red” review or a red or amber-red quarterly 
GMPP review rating, ensure that the Finance and Business Committee has 
been made aware of the situation.  
Manage formal project closure 
 Formally close the project or programme and ensure that the lessons learned 
are documented within the final evaluation report and disseminated to key 
stakeholders;  
 Ensure that the post implementation review takes place and that the output is 
communicated to the appropriate stakeholders;  
 Ensure a plan for both long term benefits realisation and on-going sustainability 
is agreed with key stakeholders as part of the process of moving the project to 
“business as usual”.