All change at DfT — or maybe not?

THIS SUMMER saw the installation of a new Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport after the departure of the previous incumbent, seen by some as not having had a particularly impressive record in leading her Department and most cost -effectively deploying the substantial resources at her disposal.

It might have been thought that her successor, Jo Shanmugalingam, would be much in the same mould as her predecessor Bernadette Kelly, stepping up internally after having been the Second Permanent Secretary for the previous two years.

However, there are some signs that Shanmugalingam may turn out to be something of a new broom. Most specifically, she has invested her credentials and expectations in the recruitment of a senior new member of her executive team, now being advertised, to take on the task of Director General for Transport Strategy. Apparently Shanmugalingam sees this new role as re-purposing the Second Permanent Secretary position (previously held by her) delivering a cost saving efficiency as it means no headcount increase to DfT’s senior leadership team.

But why the explicit new focus of the post on strategy? Perhaps surprisingly the idea of someone in charge of transport strategy has not hitherto been a feature of the Department organisational structure, and maybe that fact helps explain why the job is being advertised both internally and externally, with quite a pitch to potential candidates being made regarding its significance and the opportunity it offers to those seeking a chance to make a difference.

So what’s this new job all about? And what difference might it really make to the way the Department functions and delivers? Is it supposed to be principally creative or administrative? And of course how should it relate to existing Government transport policy, such as it is, not to mention the promised impending Integrated National Transport Strategy statement soon (perhaps) to emerge? Might there be something of a political dimension to this new role - i.e. someone being brought in with ‘clout’ to get things done in terms of co-ordinated planning and actions… And as a driving force and side kick alongside the Permanent Secretary herself.

The new role will report directly to the Permanent Secretary and will be a key member of the DfT Executive Leadership team, which is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the Department and providing governance and oversight of all its work. Certainly the salary offered is not far short of the Permanent Secretary’s. The new DG appointment is set at SCS pay band 3 at £130,000, plus employer contribution of £37,661 to the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Shanmugalingam’s pay grade was set at £160,000, plus equivalent pension.

The Strategy Director role is described as being ‘vital to delivering our agenda, working closely with the Secretary of State shaping the future of transport, including leading our engagement with colleagues across government and the transport sector on development and implementation of transport strategy to support the Government’s priorities’.

A key feature of the new role seems to be ‘joined-up thinking’. The plan is that the Director General for Transport Strategy “will provide strategic leadership across the Department’s multi-modal and cross-cutting portfolio”. The role will have responsibility for cross-cutting themes, including transport strategy, science, AI, data and decarbonisation agendas.

Interestingly, these were some of the areas specifically allocated to Shanmugalingam when she was brought in to work alongside the previous Permanent Secretary. And also matters for which input was expected from the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sarah Sharples, who is now leaving the Department after four years, and whose departure has perhaps influenced thinking on the new DG appointment. Sharples led at the DfT on many of the engineering and science challenges in transport, including decarbonisation, applications of artificial intelligence and cross-modal safety, and her departure leaves a gap that the new Strategy Director might in part fill.

It will be especially interesting to see how the role of the new appointee will work in the seven-strong Director General group at DfT, who the new strategy DG will join. Those people are traditionally seen as holding substantial fiefdoms looking after different modal areas like Rail (split between three DGs), Roads, Local Transport, Aviation and Maritime, plus the DG who looks after Corporate functions.

In a welcome message from Shanmugalingam in a slightly old-fashioned and institutional, but colourfully illustrated, ‘candidate information pack’ for the position, the Permanent Secretary seeks to put it in the context of the political landscape the Department for Transport currently occupies. “This is a pivotal moment for transport in the UK” she says. “The Government is driving forward an ambitious agenda with transport at its heart - from reforming public transport through public ownership of rail and locally controlled bus services, to delivering major infrastructure projects like HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing”.

“We’re modernising our airspace, expanding our airports, and leading the way on decarbonisation and tech transformation internationally. Transport has never been more central to national priorities, and is the engine behind the Government’s growth mission, central to unlocking housing, and with a vital role in the transition to Net Zero”.

Shanmugalingam says the new role will “be instrumental in shaping that future across Government and with industry, working closely with the Secretary of State. As Director General for Transport Strategy, you will lead the Department’s bold, long-term vision for a sector that underpins daily life across the UK and beyond”.

Applicants are told that they “will steer high-impact, fast-paced work across transport strategy, AI, data, science and decarbonisation - driving innovation and change at scale”.

This is a significant and ambitious portfolio, and expectation of whoever lands the post. It surely requires an unusual mixture of expert understanding of the subject matter, an ability to shape and take ownership of a delivery mission, and to bring together the sometimes siloed and disconnected individual elements of activity and responsibility to be found within the DfT’s organisational framework.

It may well be “a unique opportunity to shape how people and goods move in the future, and to lead one of the most exciting and influential portfolios in Government”, but it seems set to be a rather major challenge to the traditional working approach of the Department, not to mention seeming to require a more politically savvy and activist approach than has been traditional for most of the civil service departmental leadership culture. Successful civil servants have traditionally been recognised for their skills in organisation, competent administration, diplomacy and delivery — rather than strategy development, which by its name at least seems to be the main thrust of this new job. That unusual dimension suggests an intriguing time ahead for the successful candidate.

Amongst the awkward factors to be mediated in a new role of this kind are satisfying overt political objectives expressed by the Secretary of State, and certainly this Prime Minister, for the transport policy area, and the overweening influence of that part of Government where many believe policy is really shaped, and resources are certainly allocated, namely the Treasury. The strange goings-and-comings of the DfT’s junior ministerial posts made by Downing Street only last week add to the sense of uncertainty about the stewardship of the department.

“If you are a talented senior leader interested in this opportunity, I would love to hear from you”, says Shanmugalingam in pitching the new Strategy Director’s post. It will be very interesting to know how many people, and of what kind, put themselves forward for the challenge, and indeed of course, who is selected for the role.

Perhaps a better alternative step might have been to specify a search for someone to take a high-level shorter term policy leadership or change management role, for which a robust and fearless individual would sit alongside the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary to help shape and take charge of a set of agreed objectives.

Such a person would have at least been seen as having considerable political authority, and a specified period of time to get things done beyond established civil service protocols and processes. But, in that case, would anyone have wanted to take the job for the specified civil service pay grade kind of money?

Peter Stonham is the Editorial Director of TAPAS Network

This article was first published in LTT magazine, LTT922, 17 September 2025.