Common use of Joint Working Clause in Contracts

Joint Working. Both parties commit to a frequent dialogue in the intervening period between the quarterly NPR Sponsor Board. This will be essential for ensuring Transport for the North has regular information as to the status of the programme to fulfil its role as co-sponsor. It will also mean that Transport for the North can maintain a regular feedback loop with its partner organisations • To effectively manage this process, the Department will designate an official in the NPR team to fulfil the role of Sponsorship Liaison Officer. This officer will be the primary contact for Transport for the North to contact and will essentially manage the relationship between co-sponsors in the intervening period between sponsor boards. Similarly, Transport for the North will designate a dedicated officer who will manage the relationship between NPR, Transport for the North partners, the Transport for the North Board and other Transport for the North governance structures • With respect to wider partner involvement, Transport for the North represents the interests of twenty local transport authorities and eleven local enterprise partnerships in the North of England. Although, it will not possible to guarantee partner organisations similar oversight over the programme as under the co-client model, it will be important to keep them closely engaged in activity and to ensuring they are sighted on and offered chance to challenge key decision making • In the first instance, this will be managed through materials that are presented to the NPR Sponsor Board • As the programme transitions into the next stage of delivery, certain project activities will naturally require stakeholder input so the Department will commit to working closely with Transport for the North on its future stakeholder strategy to ensure that the relevant authorities are involved in this process • Transport for the North partner organisations reserve the right to request meetings with the DfT on certain issues through escalation provisions outlined in Section 1 of the NPR Sponsor Board ToR. Any request for meetings will be communicated by Transport for the North either through the NPR Sponsor Board or in the intervening period between boards. • Under current arrangements, the NPR programme is wholly funded by the Department for Transport. This means that all programme costs including resource and capital expenditure will flow directly from the Department. • Transport for the North will receive its annual funding settlement from the Department to conduct its statutory duties which includes its role NPR programme co-sponsor. As outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding between DfT and Transport for the North (see Part C ‘Pre-existing arrangements’), the Department will outline its expectations respect to the NPR programme on an annual basis in its Annual Funding letter to Transport for the North • In accordance with Sub-National Transport Regulations 2018 (Transport for the North), future funding decisions may be taken by the constituent Transport for the North partner authorities if all authorities agree on the need for a financial contribution and the amount required • Should a meaningful financial contribution be presented to Transport for the North which fundamentally alters the funding arrangement of the NPR programme, this would trigger a review of this Sponsorship Agreement and the role and function of the NPR Sponsor Board. • A Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) (1 April 2022) for work to be undertaken by the Technical Assurance, Modelling and Economics (TAME) analytical team has been agreed between DfT and Transport for the North to support development of the NPR Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) and to provide modelling support on the IRP • As outlined in the GFA, a quarterly meeting of the Analytical Steering Group (ASG) will be held to review and manage the forward work programme on behalf of the Sponsor Board. The ASG will be responsible for agreeing the scope, prioritisation and delivery arrangements of the IRP analytical programme • If disagreements on scope, prioritisation or delivery timescales were to arise, these will first be escalated for discussion at the NPR Sponsor Board.

Joint Working. Both parties commit to a frequent dialogue in the intervening period between the quarterly NPR Sponsor Board. This will be essential for ensuring Transport for the North TfN has regular information as to the status of the programme to fulfil its role as co-sponsor. It will also mean that Transport for the North TfN can maintain a regular feedback loop with its partner organisations organisations. • To effectively manage this process, the Department will designate an official in the NPR team to fulfil the role of Sponsorship Liaison Officer. This officer will be the primary contact for Transport for the North TfN to contact and will essentially manage the relationship between co-sponsors in the intervening period between sponsor boards. Similarly, Transport for the North TfN will designate a dedicated officer who will manage the relationship between NPR, Transport for the North TfN partners, the Transport for the North TfN Board and other Transport for the North TfN governance structures structures. • With respect to wider partner involvement, Transport for the North TfN represents the interests of twenty local transport authorities and eleven local enterprise partnerships in the North of England. Although, it will not possible to guarantee partner organisations similar oversight over the programme as under the co-client model, it will be important to keep them closely engaged in activity and to ensuring they are sighted on and offered chance to challenge key decision making making. • In the first instance, this will be managed through materials that are presented to the NPR Sponsor Board Board. • As the programme transitions into the next stage of delivery, certain project activities will naturally require stakeholder input so the Department will commit to working closely with Transport for the North TfN on its future stakeholder strategy to ensure that the relevant authorities are involved in this process process. • Transport for the North TfN partner organisations reserve the right to request meetings with the DfT on certain issues through escalation provisions outlined in Section 1 of the NPR Sponsor Board ToR. Any request for meetings will be communicated by Transport for the North TfN either through the NPR Sponsor Board or in the intervening period between boards. • Under current arrangements, the NPR programme is wholly funded by the Department for Transport. This means that all programme costs including resource and capital expenditure will flow directly from the Department. • Transport for the North TfN will receive its annual funding settlement from the Department to conduct its statutory duties which includes its role NPR programme co-sponsor. As outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding between DfT and Transport for the North TfN (see Part C ‘Pre-existing arrangements’), the Department will outline its expectations respect to the NPR programme on an annual basis in its Annual Funding letter to Transport for the North TfN. • In accordance with Sub-National Transport Regulations 2018 (Transport for the North), future funding decisions may be taken by the constituent Transport for the North TfN partner authorities if all authorities agree on the need for a financial contribution and the amount required required. • Should a meaningful financial contribution be presented to Transport for the North TfN which fundamentally alters the funding arrangement of the NPR programme, this would trigger a review of this Sponsorship Agreement and the role and function of the NPR Sponsor Board. • A Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) (1 April 2022) for work to be undertaken by the Technical Assurance, Modelling and Economics (TAME) analytical team has been agreed between DfT and Transport for the North TfN to support development of the NPR Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) and to provide modelling support on the IRP IRP. • As outlined in the GFA, a quarterly meeting of the Analytical Steering Group (ASG) will be held to review and manage the forward work programme on behalf of the Sponsor Board. The ASG will be responsible for agreeing the scope, prioritisation and delivery arrangements of the IRP analytical programme programme. • If disagreements on scope, prioritisation or delivery timescales were to arise, these will first be escalated for discussion at the NPR Sponsor Board.. • TfN will require access to information and data across the NPR programme to effectively fulfil its role as co-sponsor. Regular access to programme information will be essential for TfN to help provide robust challenge. • TfN will have access to relevant programme board materials as determined by the SRO. This will be provided under the confidentiality provisions of the TfN/DfT partnership agreement and TfN acknowledges that it will be treated as confidential unless the DfT agrees on a case-by-case basis that information need not be treated as confidential. • With respect to sharing internal documentation, the Department will share materials with TfN to optimise its role as co-sponsor. The Department reserves the right to redact information if it is deemed sensitive. • It will be equally important for TfN to ensure that information is shared with the Department. Such information may cover a wide range of areas including (but not limited to) communication of regional and local views from TfN’s varied stakeholder engagement, ensuring that key internal board decisions are communicated to the Department and forwarding internal publications where there are potential implications for the NPR programme. • TfN may, where required, share information and data received via the NPR Sponsor Board with its partner member authorities provided that it is treated as confidential by the receiving authority and an appropriate protocol is in place with partner authorities to manage that confidential information. • The Confidentiality Agreement covers information relating to the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) programme which is marked as “confidential”, “official- sensitive” or expressed to be confidential in any way. It is a requirement of DfT that only those TfN partner organisations which have signed the Confidentiality Agreement or who have signed in a personal capacity will be entitled to receive confidential information covered by the Confidentiality Agreement. The purpose of the Confidentiality Agreement is to protect information in relation to the formulation and development of Government policy. • Written information which is subject to the Confidentiality Agreement will be clearly marked as such and where information is provided orally a clear statement will be made that the information is subject to the Confidentiality Agreement. • Information received by TfN partner organisations may be used by officers of their Authority to enable preparation of appropriate advice. Officers may brief Members of their Authority on a need to know basis provided that suitable confidential classifications are clearly identified on the face of written information and/or signposted in any oral briefing. • For the avoidance of doubt, confidential information may not be shared with any person who is not covered by a Confidentiality Agreement. • The TfN partner receiving the confidential information is responsible for protecting all information it holds and must be able to justify any decision to share information within the Authority. • The TfN partner receiving the confidential information will be required to ensure that their Members and Officers follow the guidelines set out below when handling confidential information received from TfN or DfT.