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Sent:
To:
Subject:
RE: Urgent - IC reprioritisation and next year’s budget
Paula
Thanks for this. I’m certainly up for the teams getting together socially. I’m not sure a joint session on working
together is necessarily the right way to go, but if you feel it would be valuable we would certainly join.
The reason I’m saying this is that I think a lot of the issues we have, on the occasions they come up, are related to a
very small number of specific individuals — in general the people we deal with at POL are minded to be cooperative.
There are some very good examples of this eg the network team.
There is also I think a degree of institutional resistance to working together on things which can be sub-optimal for us
all — although I also recognise totally that it’s right and proper for there to be some of that. POL has an independent
Board and management for good reasons. So there is a balance for us to strike between making a positive
contribution to real outcomes for the company, doing our stewardship job properly and, on the other hand, unwanted
or unwarranted interference/bureaucracy. In my view the current balance isn’t quite right and we could be more
effective if we were able to work together more closely.
The important thing is we start from being on the same side — our prime interest is in the success of the company and
doing what we can to contribute to its success. Sometimes we don’t appear to be doing that because we have other
responsibilities and sometimes we can’t contribute positively or contribute effectively and can get in the way. But it’s
important to us that our starting point is understood by everyone we deal with at the Post Office. I do hope we
communicate that.
V'll keep you posted and I really appreciate the role you’re playing in keeping things on a level.
Tom
Tom Cooper
Director
UK Government Investments
1 Victoria Street I London I SW1H OET
From: Paula Vennells [mailto3
Sent: 01 November 2018 08:
To: Cooper, Tom - UKGI < }
Subject: Fwd: Urgent - IC reprioritisation and next year’s budget
Tom,
I thought you should see this.
Should we have a joint team session - ways of working, followed by a few beers?
I’m happy to facilitate and/or suggest someone who could.
Rob has been outstanding - and Tim - in helping get to a better place.
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We need to move on. Can you continue to let me know if it doesn’t.
Paula
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From: Paula Vennells
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:47:52 AM
To: Tim White; Rob Houghton; Alisdair Cameron; Owen Woodley; Debbie.K Smith; Mohinder Kang; Jane MacLeod;
Mark R Davies; Martin Edwards
Cc: Cathy Mayor; Alistair Roman; Cem Oztoprak; Thomas P Moran
Subject: Urgent - IC reprioritisation and next year’s budget
Dear all,
We can expect additional scrutiny on content and presentation of next year’s budget (and 3YP refresh) from
UKGL. I want us to receive their input as additive and beneficial.
That can only happen if we give ourselves sufficient time to engage properly. We have all said UKGI are
welcome to give us ‘Honest Challenge’. But when we are ‘up against it’ too often we take it as unhelpful:
Ihave been ‘fire-fighting’ on our behalf too much; many of you have been involved too many times in
misunderstandings and frustrations; UKGI have been learning and haven't always got it right cither. We have
all spent too much time criticising the process rather than leading on the content. Let’s view it as the
“storming” stage as a new team forms. UKGI is our team - that is good: they bring better scrutiny of the
application of public funds. Only good.
Now we move to ‘norming’ our relationship.
As we approach budget planning but also as we complete quarterly UKGI submissions, of which Tim’s note
on re-prioritisation is part, I want us to give ourselves sufficient time to engage constructively with our UKGI
colleagues: their work, and their engagement with BEIS and Treasury is a pre-requisite to our progress and
success. They will need time to understand our work, to note where change is required and why.
Al is right this current submission will be revised by the budget but it still has to be as right as we can get it
today.
Please check your diaries, especially if you are out of the office today (Al, Debbie, Owen). Do you have time
to go through the work? If not, challenge the deadline today. Letting Tim know on Monday you haven’t had
time to check it, isn’t helpful.
Why am I sending this note today?
Because we have some amazing opportunities ahead of us - really exciting strategies developed by you and
your teams! We must make sure we allocate funds to your refreshed priorities; Debbie, Cathy and Tom -
particularly important for you.
Only you know how much time and thought you need to invest to get that right now and over the coming
weeks. Let me know if/where you need help.
Lastly, my thanks to Rob and to Tim for their work over recent days - not easy but we have a way through if
this work is done well.
Best,
Paula
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From: Tim White
UKGI00008603
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Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 6:56:09 PM
To: Rob Houghton; Alisdair Cameron; Owen Woodley; Debbie.K Smith; Mohinder Kang; Jane MacLeod; Mark R Davies;
Martin Edwards
Cc: Cathy Mayor; Alistair Roman; Cem Oztoprak; Thomas P Moran; Paula Vennells
Subject: Re: IC prioritisation of portfolio
Dear All,
Further to Rob’s email, please find attached a file containing the necessary information. There is a tab for each GE
member. Quick instructions:
1. The “Totals by GE member” tab shows the totals, by GE member, of the YTD spend and provisional allocation
to each GE member and how this differs to the 6+6 forecast. Pressing the “+” button breaks this down by
project/programme.
2. Each GE member has a tab (named based on initials) with their project details and relevant spend and benefit
data.
3. Row N in pink has the provisional allocation, and cell N1 has the total provisional allocation for the GE
member.
4, In row P in green, if needed, you can reallocate your £m provisional allocation between your initiatives.
5. Inrow V in green, please input the updated benefit figures based on the new allocation you have assigned.
6. Once completed, please send your spreadsheet back to me by midday on Monday, so that we can combine
and analyse the data on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s discussions.
If you have any questions at all, please let me know.
Regards,
Tim
Tim White
“Strategic Portfolio Office Director
Change Excellence
Finsbury Dials,
20 Finsbury St,
London,
EC2Y 9AQ
From: Rob Houghton
Date: Wednesday, 31 October
To: Paula Vennells <
"Debbie.K
, Jane MacLeod
>, Martin Edwards
Alistair
__.?, Thomas P
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Moran f “GRO.
Subject: IC prioritisation of portfolio
We held the IC today to address the challenge of prioritisation of the portfolio against the remaining spend available
of 359.5m. As you are aware — this has become a critical factor in UK Gls consideration of funding and needs to be
resolved. Prior to the IC we ran a process to allocate funds to GE member based on a criteria of:
1. Regulatory projects were untouched (ie Group Litigation/ GDPR)
2. Projects that have less than 3 months remaining and cannot influence spend were largely untouched (le Back
Office Transformation)
3. Areduction was then made on the remaining projects, mainly back to the original forecast
After discussion in the IC we have all agreed the following process:
a. We will send out our initial allocation of funding to each GE member (and nominated reps on the IC)
b, The GE member will have to do an impact analysis of the implications of the allocation. We anticipate this
impact assessment will be:
a. The big strategic questions that we need to debate as a result of this
b. The impact on plan (after exhausting all avenues of avoiding an impact)
c. Validation of benefits
c. We will aim to regroup (currently attempting Tuesday 5-6pm) to discuss the impact of the allocation and next
stages
Some guiding assumptions we have taken in this rapid analysis:
© We will work within the constraints of the 359.5m (remaining 30 month of spend of our 3 year plan — we have
already spent 101m in the last 6 months)
* Areprioritisation of any allocations made will be discussed at the GE so we will work within existing
allocations
* We will prioritise 1) regulatory/ operational risk reduction projects, 2) projects that drive the 100m short term
(cost reduction and revenue growth) 3) strategic enablers where payback is beyond 2 years
* We will need to bridge to the UK GI submission which outlined originally how the 459.5m was delivering the
100m profit
* We have a commitment within the plan of expenditure with Fujitsu that needs to be taken into account
The file will be sent out from Tim separately for your teams to work on later today.
Rob
Rob Houghton
Chief Information Officer
2017 Winner of the — Ground Floor,
Global Postal Award 20 Finsbury Street,
for London EC2Y 9AQ
Customer Experience
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