Tony Poulter has been appointed as a non-executive member of the Department for Transport Board by Transport Secretary, Chris Gayling.

His appointment was confirmed on 19 September following a public recruitment exercise.

Non-executive board members are senior figures from outside government, appointed to provide challenge to government departments. As set out in the government’s code of practice, non-executive board members should be appointed directly by the Secretary of State and are not civil servants. Their role is to:

• give advice to ministers and officials on the operational and delivery implications of policy proposals
• provide independent support, guidance and challenge on the progress and implementation of the department’s strategic direction
• advise on performance and support the development of key performance indicators to monitor implementation of the Single departmental plan.

Until 30 June 2016, Tony Poulter was a Partner and Global Head of Consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has been a leading adviser on infrastructure financing in the UK and internationally.