Welcome Note from Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill CBE, Rail Minister
Dear Prospective Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in becoming a Member of the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) which is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Transport.
This is an important time for the Department for Transport. We are focused on improving performance on the railways and driving forward rail reform whilst ensuring infrastructure works for the whole country.
We are recruiting four new Members who either have knowledge and experience of those providing railway services, working on the railways, and/or the interests of persons travelling by rail. One of those Members will be recruited with a specific focus on Wales.
BTPA is responsible for ensuring an efficient and effective police force for rail operators, their staff and passengers. Its duties and functions are similar to those of the Scottish Police Authority or a police and crime commissioner in England and Wales, but it oversees a force that is responsible for policing a much wider area – the railways of Great Britain. BTPA’s role is therefore vital to everyone who uses or works on our railways – helping to support the British Transport Police (BTP) to tackle crime and ensure high levels of passenger confidence, as well as securing value for money from the BTP.
We are looking for motivated team players who can provide strategic guidance in a Board context and who can constructively support and challenge. The successful candidates will be able to see the big picture whilst recognising the interests of a wide range of stakeholders, and will have strong, broad-ranging skills, including those relating to strategy and performance management.
We strongly welcome applications from all backgrounds. As part of the Department’s commitment to diversity, we believe our public appointments should reflect our customers - the travelling public – who come from all walks of life and have different experiences. We very much welcome fresh talent, expertise, and perspectives, to help us better understand the needs of the communities we serve and support better decision making for all. This includes people who may have never applied for a public appointment but could bring new ideas, insights and energy.
If you are interested in the role and work of BTPA, full details of the responsibilities are set out in this document, and I would encourage you to apply.
Our dedicated DfT Public Appointments Team would be happy to talk through the process and answer your questions.
Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, CBE
Welcome Note from Ron Barclay-Smith, Chair of BTPA
Thank you for your interest in becoming a Member of BTPA. This is an exciting opportunity to join the independent oversight board of the national police service which keeps Britain’s rail network safe and secure. As the specialist and dedicated police service for Britain’s railways, BTP’s work is wide reaching, providing an important service to all passenger and freight operators, Network Rail, their staff and customers across England, Scotland and Wales, as well as policing the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the Midland Metro Tram System, Croydon Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro and Glasgow Subway.
BTPA is principally responsible for charging train operators for the policing of the railway and therefore must ensure value for money for its funders. To achieve this, BTP, supported by BTPA, has embarked on a transformation programme which will deliver new ways of working, exploiting the use of digital technology better to predict where resources need to be deployed, analysing the success of its actions and interventions, and enabling officers to spend more time out on patrol working effectively and productively where it matters most.
BTPA, as the oversight body of the largest of the three national infrastructure forces, is also well placed to contribute to the national conversation around policing, and to further this aim it works closely with the DfT, Home Office, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and other policing oversight bodies and organisations. However, the range of BTPA’s stakeholders is much broader than this and Members will also be called upon to engage with funders in the rail industry, passenger groups, the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales and more besides. BTPA’s largest funders are Network Rail and Transport for London who currently form two of the key partners within the rail industry.
It is imperative that BTPA and BTP work collaboratively to deliver efficient and effective policing for the railways in our different roles with trust, openness and transparency at the core of our relationship. At the same time, Members must be prepared to ask the challenging questions and fulfil the role of critical friend, ensuring a balanced and healthy debate to achieve the best outcomes.
We now seek a Member for Wales and three other national Members who can adapt and influence strategic change, have excellent communication skills with political and commercial acumen and high personal integrity. We particularly want to see applications from candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives reflecting the diversity of the communities BTP serves and helping to maximise the effectiveness of the Authority. Supporting diversity and a broad range of perspectives around the Authority table is of particular personal importance to me as Chair.
Finally, this is an opportunity to work with a great group of people across the Force and the Authority and be a Member of an Authority which has an exceptional team spirit and is clear about the need to scrutinise and support a highly professional police force.
I hope you will be inspired by this exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of national policing, making a real difference to the protection of Great Britain’s critical rail infrastructure and those who work and travel upon it.
If you would like an informal conversation with me about the roles, please contact Raquel Cortes, BTPA Member Engagement Manager, via raquel.cortes@btp.police.uk, to arrange this. I will also be hosting a Webinar on 13 March at 11.00-12.00 to explain more about the roles and the specific qualities being sought. Information about how to access this is available on BTPA’s website at www.btpa.police.uk.
Please keep an eye on the DfT Public Appointments Linked in page https://www.linkedin.com/company/dft-public-appointments and the British Transport Police Twitter page (@BTPAuthority) for updates.
About the British Transport Police Authority
BTPA was established by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 (the Act) as the independent oversight body for the British Transport Police (BTP).
BTPA is a cross-border public authority which means that the Scottish Government must be consulted about appointments to BTPA.
The Act provides for the Secretary of State for Transport to appoint between eleven and seventeen Members to BTPA. This includes the Chair and a Deputy Chair, currently Ron Barclay-Smith and Dyan Perry respectively. BTPA currently comprises 14 Members including Members with specific knowledge of the interests of persons in Scotland and England.
An overview of BTPA’s primary duties is provided below.
Setting British Transport Police’s strategy: BTPA is responsible for setting objectives for BTP before the beginning of each financial year. BTPA announces these objectives, as well as its strategic direction and performance review of the BTP through several publications:
The Strategic Plan sets out BTPA’s medium-term and long-term strategies for policing the railways. The current strategy published in June 2022 covers the period 2022-27 and will see long-term changes to passenger journeys and ways of working influenced by the pandemic, an ambitious programme of rail reform, an increase in freight traffic, and the delivery of new services. All these factors will influence the demand for policing services, how those services are accessed, how BTP delivers them and the partnerships through which they achieve success.
Finally, the Annual Report, published after each financial year end, covering the policing of the railways in that year and accounts.
BTP’s funding and budget: BTPA determines BTP’s budget, formally called the BTP Fund. It plays a key role in holding BTP to account for ensuring its budget is spent efficiently and effectively. BTPA has an important role in ensuring the delivery of the efficiency programme for BTP, helping to secure better value for money for both taxpayers and stakeholders.
Stakeholder engagement: This ensures that stakeholders, in particular the rail industry who pay for the policing of the railway, are able effectively to contribute to the development of the Strategic Plan and annual Policing Plan. Effective stakeholder engagement is essential for BTPA and involves listening to franchise holders as well as their representative bodies, such as the Rail Delivery Group.
Police Service Agreements: BTPA enters into agreements with train, freight and other operating and infrastructure companies to provide a policing service to their railway or railway property. These agreements, referred to as Police Services Agreements (PSAs), require the companies to make payments for the service of BTP. For instance, when a new rail franchise is awarded by the Department for Transport (or by Scottish or Welsh Ministers), the company is usually required to enter into a new PSA with BTPA.
Emergency Agreements: If an emergency financial provision is required by BTP, the DfT can provide BTPA with separate grants for specific (ring-fenced) purposes in accordance with a framework agreement. BTPA is obliged to provide evidence that the grant was used for the purposes authorised by DfT. BTPA shall not have uncommitted grant funds in hand, nor carry specific grant funds to another financial year.
Performance monitoring: Members of BTPA provide oversight and scrutiny of BTP’s performance during the year, helping to ensure it provides an effective service to railway users, staff and the railway more generally. BTPA has a focus on legitimacy, providing oversight of those aspects of policing that impact the trust of the public including professionalism, use of force, stop and search and detention.
Appointments: BTPA is responsible for the recruitment to fill senior vacancies in the BTP, including the Chief Constable, and all members of the BTP Chief Officers’ Group, both officers and staff. BTPA is also the employer of all BTP officers and members of police staff.
Regulation of BTP: As with Home Office forces in England and Wales, for which regulations are issued under sections 50-52 of the Police Act 1996, BTPA can issue regulations for the BTP as described by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003.
Overseeing broader priorities: including further discussions around the devolution of the BTP’s functions in Scotland, and any implications for the BTP resulting from reform of the railways.
The Executive Team: BTPA is supported by a small Executive team led by Chief Executive, Hugh Ind, who also acts as Accounting Officer for the BTP Fund.
This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the
Commissioner’s website 