Confidential Position Specification Highways England Chief Executive Officer January 2021 © 2020 Korn Ferry. All Rights Reserved. CONFIDENTIAL POSITION SPECIFICATION Position Chief Executive Officer Company Highways England Location UK Reporting Relationship Chair & Board of Highways England Website https://highwaysengland.co.uk/ ORGANISATION BACKGROUND Highways England is tasked with the critical mandate of operating, maintaining and improving England’s 4,300 miles of motorways and major A roads, and the strategic road network (SRN) is one of the biggest and most important pieces of infrastructure in the country. Highways England is a Government-owned company which plays a significant role in the country’s economy as well as the safety and satisfaction of the population. The SRN is responsible for carrying a third of all traffic by mileage and two-thirds of heavy goods traffic and it is vital that Highways England continues to operate effectively ensuring that the network consists of sustainable and dependable roads. In addition to operating and maintaining the strategic road network, Highways England develops and commissions major new road projects such as the Lower Thames Crossing as well as monitoring and maintaining existing infrastructure, and operationally running its traffic officer and technology systems to keep customers safe and satisfied. The organisation is structured into seven regions: North West, North East, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West, South East and East. Each region has a control centre and manages a programme of repairs and maintenance for its part of the network. The organisation has circa 6,000 employees around the country. Founded as an executive agency, it was converted into a Government-owned company in 2015 and the most recent Road Investment Strategy (RIS1) which ran from 2015 to 2020, represented the biggest investment in England’s roads in a generation, with funding of £15.2bn. Highways England continues to focus on investing in the future of roads to support economic growth and to deliver a safe and sustainable SRN. The next Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) has committed a further £27.4bn in capital funding for the period 2020 to 2025, with revised and ambitious delivery expectations increasing spending on operations, maintenance and major projects, against a backdrop of technological change in the sector. Highways England | Chief Executive Officer Page 2 of 19 ROAD INVESTMENT STRATEGY 1 (RIS1) RIS1 has delivered significant progress in operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network, with a particular focus on improving safety, and today the network is one of the safest in the world. Over the past five years Highways England has built new roads, maintained and improved existing roads and critically kept customers and the country’s vital transport network moving safely. The organisation is viewed as a global leader in road building and maintenance, with world class health & safety records. The number of people killed or seriously injured on the road network has been cut by 40% during this period and RIS2 will aim at reducing this number by a further 50%. At the core of the organisation are three imperatives: safety, customer service and delivery. The organisation has effectively managed its funding during this period delivering £1.4bn of efficiencies and providing over £2.50 of public benefit for every £1 that has been invested. The organisation has developed further a more rigorous approach to project management, reviewing benefits versus cost and effectively managing risk to deliver programmes of work to budget and on time. Customer centricity is critical to the success of Highways England and through the RIS1 period the organisation has continued to improve incident clearance and network availability combined with driving innovation to improve customer service. A key highlight was the implementation of 60mph speed limits, where deemed safe, through roadworks and this subsequently won public policy of the year award, a great achievement for Highways England. On balance, the organisation has delivered through RIS1 and is focused on driving improved performance through RIS2. The strategic road network is now considered a key economic asset, with a well-established need for long-term investment ensuring the prosperity and wellbeing of the country. A key highlight for the last financial year was the £1.3bn A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme. The 12-mile bypass was completed a year ahead of schedule and the final part of the scheme will open to the public in May 2020, eight months early and importantly on budget. This scheme provides a strong platform with the successes and learnings for future more complex and innovative schemes such as the Lower Thames Crossing and the A303. Highways England has also experienced challenges through RIS1 and during the last financial year. Most notable has been the public and media scrutiny towards the all lane running scheme during the DfT’s safety evidence stocktake. The stocktake was started by the last Government and continued by the present Government finding that “overall, the evidence shows that in most ways, all lane running is as safe as, or safer than, conventional motorways”. However, it also stated that some areas of individual risk and public concern should be addressed immediately. Customer Service Highlights: ▪ Customer satisfaction has increased from 88.5% in March 2015 to 89.2% in March 2020; Highways England | Chief Executive Officer Page 3 of 19 ▪ Over 2,500 hours of customer journey time has been saved on average per day, in addition to over 1,000 hours saved on average in 2018 to 2019; ▪ During 2019 to 2020, average delay on the road network was 9.33 seconds per vehicle per mile, a minor improvement on last year, at 9.37 seconds; and ▪ At the end of the first road period, Highways England has achieved its highest roadworks satisfaction score since 2014 to 2015. Delivery Highlights: ▪ Exceeded the network availability KPI, achieving 98.18% against a target of 97%; ▪ Exceeded the incident clearance target of 85%, clearing 89.07% within one hour. This was achieved against a backdrop of increasing traffic volumes, demonstrating the positive impact of new initiatives, such as intelligence-led patrolling; ▪ 95.5% of the road surface achieved good levels of condition against a target of 95% for RIS1; ▪ Mitigation of 1,174 noise important areas against an overall target of 1,150 areas. In total, Highways England reduced noise for around 50,000 people; and ▪ Since 2015, Highways England has outperformed efficiency targets. The organisation has delivered £1.4bn of efficiency savings over the first road period, against a cumulative target of £1.2bn. ROAD INVESTMENT STRATEGY 2 (RIS2) The £27.4bn of funding for RIS2 will allow Highways England to further improve the network for road users, communities, and the environment. New targets include reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on the network by 50%, against the 2005/ 2009 baseline. This is combined with an ambition to save customers over 20m hours, currently lost in traffic congestion, and to provide £27bn of benefit for road users and the economy through improving journey time, stimulating employment and supporting housing and business developments. Over the next five years Highways England are planning to open 52 schemes for traffic, deliver £2bn of efficiencies and renew 1,100 miles of safety barriers. Central to RIS2 will be a focus on delivering an ever-stronger sustainability strategy in support of the Government’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and support up to 64,000 jobs in the construction industry. Central to RIS2 will be a continued focus on developing a network that creates a positive legacy for future generations. In this road period the organisation will work closely with the Government to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Government’s aim of carbon neutrality by 2050. Highways England will reduce emissions on the SRN but also reduce its own carbon footprint. Improving air quality through cutting carbon emissions, improving water quality, reducing noise Highways England | Chief Executive Officer Page 4 of 19 pollution and improving biodiversity will also combine to develop a sustainable road network. Supporting the Governments ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050: Highways England has a shared responsibility to tackle climate change and the organisation is dedicated to minimising the greenhouse gases generated from activities within its control. Highways England will take responsibility for reducing emissions from the organisation’s vehicles, rationalising equipment, and designing schemes and services to be carbon and energy efficient. Initiatives such as introducing energy-saving measures for maintenance depots, using low-energy lighting and control systems for motorways and the use of electric vehicles within the Highways England fleet will all help to tackle this challenge and contribute to the net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Highways England have continued to strengthen relationships and partnerships with Ministers, the DfT, and the Office of Rail and Road to ensure RIS2 is ambitious but robust. The organisation, the Board and Leadership are confident that the organisation can meet the ambitious targets set out by RIS2, keeping safety, customer service and delivery as the imperatives that underpin all activities. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE Funding for Highways England is provided by Government.