Overview
About Scottish Rail Holdings
Scottish Rail Holdings is a limited company wholly owned and controlled by the Scottish Ministers that was set up in 2022 with the express purpose of overseeing the governance of train operating companies under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993.
Scottish Rail Holdings provides an interface between Transport Scotland, as strategic policymakers, and the operational delivery of passenger train services for both ScotRail Trains Limited (SRT) and Caledonian Sleeper Limited (CSL).
Overall Accountability
The Chair of Scottish Rail Holdings will provide the Board with overall leadership, direction and constructive challenge. They will ensure that the Board operates compliantly with Scottish Government protocols including Scottish Government “On-Board” guidance, complies with the legal duties required of a Limited Company board, and will lead on the representation of links to the Ministers and the Scottish Parliament through Transport Scotland.
Person Specification
Do you have experience of working as a Board member? Do you have strong leadership skills and a good working knowledge of best practice in Board governance and diversity? Are you able to support an organisation in taking policy and strategy and shaping it into tangible actions and outcomes?
Do you have an understanding of constitutional devolution and how this affects the delivery of public services in Scotland? Do you understand the duties conferred onto Directors by the public and private sector governance and assurance processes?
If the answers to the questions above are yes, then becoming the Chair of Scottish Rail Holdings may be the right opportunity for you. We value very highly the benefits of having different experience and points of view on our Boards. Scottish Ministers particularly welcome applications from people currently under-represented, including women and those with protected characteristics, such as disabled people, LGBTI+ people, those from black and minority ethnic communities and people aged under 50.
About the Appointment
The appointment is for up to 3 years. The Chair receives a day rate of £498 for a time commitment of 96 days per calendar year. In order for the Chair to be able to carry out their role we will also pay for:
1. Any travel and subsistence costs
2. Reasonable childcare or carer expenses
3. Disability-related reasonable adjustments
Skills/Experience Required
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Board Responsibilities
4. Provide overall leadership of the Board of Scottish Rail Holdings, ensuring that all members act compliantly and that all Board meetings are chaired effectively.
5. Ensure that the Board of Scottish Rail Holdings delivers against the objectives of Scottish Ministers.
6. Ensure that the Governance of Scottish Rail Holdings is run in accordance with the agreed Governance Framework, and that all substantive reports from the governance committees are given due consideration, with actions taken as required from any recommendations.
7. Ensure that the Board’s activities are subject to regular self-assessment to ensure that the Board is operating strategically and effectively.
8. Ensure that all decisions taken by the Board are documented with a full audit trail for key decisions.
Strategic Responsibilities
9. To lead the relationship with the Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament on matters relating to Scottish Rail Holdings and its subsidiaries.
10. Ensure that the Board facilitates the business planning cycle on an annual basis.
11. To lead the Board’s succession planning on an annual basis, to ensure that there is a succession plan, along with a Board that is diverse and effective.
12. To lead the review of performance against the annual Business Plan, ensuring that any remedial action is taken where there are adverse variances against the plan.
Leadership Responsibilities
13. To ensure that all Board members are fully aware of their role accountabilities and that all training is delivered to ensure that they discharge their duties fully for the good of Scottish Rail Holdings.
14. To ensure that the Code of Conduct for Board members is followed, as approved by the Scottish Ministers.
15. Ensure that the Board operates compliantly with Scottish Government protocols including Scottish Government “On-Board” guidance.
16. Continually review the performance of the Board members, providing feedback along with an annual appraisal.
17. To conduct the annual appraisal of the Chief Executive, including consulting the other Board members.
Oversight Responsibilities
18. To provide constructive challenge to ensure that business decisions are made in a robust and sustainable manner.
19. To regularly review the interactions between Scottish Rail Holdings and its subsidiaries, ensuring that the dynamic is in line with the policies of Transport Scotland.
20. To ensure the Board meetings continually review the levels of performance being required and delivered by Scottish Rail Holdings subsidiaries.
Governance
21. The role holder will attend the following Boards and Committees: Scottish Rail Holdings Board, Scotland’s Railway Alliance Board, Scottish Rail Holdings Limited Nominations and Renumeration Committee, Scotland’s Railways’ Stakeholder Board, Strategic Rail Board.
22. The role holder will also be likely to meet the Chief Executive of Scottish Rail Holdings weekly, the Chief Executive of Transport Scotland monthly and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Scottish Government as required (approximately bi monthly).
Essential Criteria/Key Competencies
23. Previous experience of chairing a board or equivalent overseeing management or leadership role.
24. Previous board experience ideally in a large organisation with significant delivery responsibilities.
25. Raises performance using constructive challenge and feedback. A resilient and self-aware role model, creating an environment which supports diversity & equality, health & wellbeing.
26. Interprets a wide range of financial information & options to underpin sound decisions, sharing implications for public expenditure with the wider system.
27. Supports the highest standards of value for money, internal controls and public sector governance as outlined in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.
28. Leads a way through complex issues and conflicting perspectives and understands, and influences strategy into outcome focused solutions.
29. Understands, influences and translates the wider communications agenda, supporting the development of clear and creative communications objectives and measurement criteria.
30. Oversees risks to strategic objectives, influencing others to enhance outcomes and aid continuous improvement.
Desirable Criteria
31. Experience in the rail sector or of wider public transport would be an advantage.
About how and when to apply
An application pack with full details can be found .
To Apply : In order for your application to be considered you must complete a two-stage process. First of all, please click on Apply for this job to complete contact details, monitoring information and declaration of interest online. The second stage is to download and complete the .
Please return your completed form to
. General information about public appointments and guidance to help you improve your applications is attached .
Accessibility to public appointments is a fundamental requirement and the public appointments process promotes, demonstrates and upholds equality of opportunity for all applicants. The Scottish Government will always give consideration to disability-related reasonable adjustments that an applicant might request to enable them to demonstrate their merit and participate fully in the selection process. If you require any of the application pack documentation in an alternative format, please contact .