Act as a shareholder representative for, and lead establishment of, UK government’s most complex and commercial delivery bodies on behalf of sponsor departments
The UKGI governance team has deep Board, governance, commercial and financial expertise drawn from both inside and outside government. We support HMG’s effective ownership of its complex delivery bodies, enhancing Departments’ ability to promote successful organisational performance. This includes taking a proactive shareholder role, sharing best practice advice on setting up new bodies and undertaking governance.
In accordance with Managing Public Money (MPM), departments are encouraged to seek UKGI’s advice for managing departments’ responsibilities as shareholders, and also when establishing central government companies, Public Corporations or other delivery bodies which have a significant commercial element, significant private sector interface and/or whose governance is of material complexity.
Delivering a shareholder function which seeks to drive continuously improving and sustainable asset performance can include:
- Governance structure and documentation: Driving accountability and effective shareholder relationships by working with assets and departments to put in place best practice and fit for purpose corporate and government governance frameworks
- Objectives, business planning and performance: Supporting and challenging assets to produce fit for purpose business plans, performance metrics and reporting, and so drive increased accountability and improved planning between assets and HMG
- Corporate capability: Challenging and monitoring our assets’ internal systems and processes to help identify and mitigate risk and promote best practice internal governance, culture and organisational health
- Effective leadership: Applying senior corporate expertise to influence ALB recruitment and remuneration processes, board reviews and succession planning to help shape strong and fit for purpose capability in our assets’ boards and senior executive
- Effective relationships: Facilitating effective, pragmatic and transparent relationships between our assets and government, through formal and informal, senior-led, regular interactions
- Experienced Shareholder Non-Executive Director: Acting as Shareholder NED, contributing deep governance and government expertise to our assets’ boards, and facilitating the relationship and understanding between asset boards and their departments
Elena Ciallie
Director
Elena joined UKGI in October 2020 and has been a Non-Executive Director for Eutelsat Communications SA since September 2023 and for the National Wealth Fund since August 2024. Prior to that, she had a twenty-five-year career in investment banking at Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Ondra Partners advising companies across Europe on financial strategy, capital raising and capital allocation. Through providing advice to senior management and boards she developed corporate governance expertise and became a Non-Executive Director on public company boards. In addition to her role at UKGI, she is a Non-Executive Director at illimity Bank, a digital only SME focused bank headquartered in Milan, Italy. She holds a degree in business administration from Bocconi University, Milan.
Andy Butterworth
Executive Director
Andy joined UKGI in December 2016 and is the head of our Corporate Governance practice, supporting HMG’s effective ownership of its arm’s length bodies. He currently sits on the Board of The Royal Mint Limited.
Previously Andy has worked in UKGI’s Special Situations Group which focuses on sectors and corporates where there is a risk of economic shock impact to major employment or assets of national interest. He has also worked within UKGI’s housing activities with MHCLG, delivered a number of projects with the UKGI Defence team and led UKGI’s governance team working on UK Export Finance.
Andy is a FCA and prior to joining UKGI was an M&A Director at Deloitte specialising in advising on non-standard and accelerated M&A transactions, many of which involved advising companies, investors and lenders on maximising value in constrained, challenging or time-critical situations.
Our work on appointments:
UKGI is involved in the appointment or reappointment of over 100 board members every 3 years across its portfolio. It is a crucial part of UKGI’s shareholder function, ensuring exceptional talent is engaged to provide senior leadership across the range of organisations we support.
Operating at the edge of the public and private sector, we seek to use the best practice of both to support the running of open and fair competitions which find and promote a diverse range of suitable candidates, often working work closely with Executive Search firms.
Becoming a Board Member
The role of the Board is to provide collective leadership to the organisation so it fulfils its own strategic aims and the objectives and priorities set by the relevant Secretary of State, and complies with the requirements relating to the use of public funds. Role descriptions will be tailored to the particular roles available and the expertise required on that board. It is therefore important that applicants have relevant senior experience, effective communication and interpersonal skills, data literacy and sound judgement. While we often appoint experienced Non-Executives, we are always interested in those who are looking to go plural.
If you would like to find out about future vacancies, register on our vacancies page.
We would encourage you to also register your profile on the central Cabinet Office Public Appointments website. Here you will find a wide range of opportunities across the public sector.
The public sector and state owned enterprises, wholly or partially owned, which UKGI works with are:
Our publications set out how we strive to meet the needs of government departments and, ultimately, taxpayers and wider society through our governance role
The British Business Bank is a 100% government owned economic development bank dedicated to making financial markets work better for small businesses with a mission to ‘drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK, and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by supporting access to finance for smaller businesses.
Channel 4 is a commercially funded public sector broadcaster it operates a portfolio of channels including channel 4.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is charged, on behalf of government, with the mission to clean-up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost effectively. NDA is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
National Nuclear Laboratory is government’s nuclear fission laboratory whose mission is twofold: to enable and deliver nuclear outcomes for government, and to support growth of the UK nuclear sector.
The Post office is the UK’s largest retail network and the largest financial services chain in the UK with more branches than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together.
Ordnance Survey’s is Great Britain’s National Mapping Service. Its trusted location data and expertise is helping to build a modern digital Britain and show the world how to see a better place; by creating sustainable, healthy, and connected societies. OS uses location data and intelligence to illuminate the unseen. OS helps governments make smarter decisions that ensure safety and security, shows businesses how to gain a location data edge and helps everyone experience the benefits of the world outside.
The Royal Mint is the world’s oldest mint and its first responsibility is to make and distribute coins for the United Kingdom. Beyond this it now operates as a diversified business spanning commemorative coins, precious metals, jewellery and also an innovative venture to recover gold and other precious metals from end of life electronic waste.
UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department . It works with private credit insurers and lenders to help UK companies access export finance.
UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) was established on 1 October 2010 to facilitate the orderly management of the closed mortgage books of both Bradford & Bingley and NRAM.
URENCO is an international supplier of enrichment services and fuel cycle products. With plants in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and in the USA, it operates in a pivotal area of the nuclear fuel supply chain which enables the sustainable generation of electricity for consumers around the world. The URENCO Group provides safe, cost effective and reliable uranium enrichment services for civil power generation within a framework of high environmental, social and corporate responsibility standards.
Eutelsat Group is the world’s first GEO-LEO satellite operator, listed in Paris and London, providing video and connectivity services to customers around the globe. The UK Government became a shareholder in September 2023 following the merger of Eutelsat with OneWeb, the UK-based Low Earth Orbit satellite communications company.
Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) is the UK’s operator of the Dormant Assets Scheme. Working with the financial services industry, RFL facilitates the transfer of dormant asset monies into the Scheme ensuring the original owner’s right to reclaim and distributing the surplus funds (amounts in excess of what is required to meet future reclaims), to social and environmental initiatives across the UK.
AWE plays a crucial role in nuclear defence, providing the warheads for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The National Wealth Fund was launched on 14 October 2024 with £27.8 billion of capital and is at the forefront of investing public money for our future. It delivers against a triple bottom line: helping deliver the government’s growth and clean energy missions, generating a return for the taxpayer and crowding in private capital.
Sizewell C will generate enough low-carbon electricity to supply six million homes. By replacing fossil-fuel power, it will avoid around nine million tonnes of carbon emissions each year. It will create thousands of local jobs and contribute around £4 billion to the regional economy. The project will support 70,000 jobs across the UK and rely on over 3,000 UK-based suppliers.
National Energy System Operator: following the acquisition of the Electricity System Operator from National Grid in October 2024, NESO was established as an independent public corporation. NESO brings together responsibility for planning and operating the whole energy system – across natural gas, electricity and other forms of energy – in one organisation for the first time, to help accelerate Great Britain’s energy transition.
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) negotiates and manages defence contracts on behalf of the UK Armed Forces.
Sheffield Forgemasters is a heavy engineering firm specialising in the production of large bespoke steel castings and forgings, capable of producing some of the largest and most technically challenging cast and forged steel components in the world. The company, a Tier 2 supplier into UK Defence, is the only available manufacturer with the capabilities to provide certain components for critical defence programmes. Established in 1750, it is based on a 64 acre site in Sheffield across the River Don and employs over 600 people.
GPA delivers property and workplace solutions across government, taking a portfolio-led approach to managing central government general purpose property
National Highways plans, designs, builds, operates and maintains England’s motorways and major A roads, known as the strategic road network (SRN).
Network Rail owns, operates, maintains and develops the railway infrastructure in England, Scotland and Wales.
UKGI is committed to good stewardship practices and the Financial Reporting Council’s revised 2020 UK Stewardship Code. UKGI is reaffirmed as a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code for a third year; our report provides an update on our stewardship activities during 2022/23 and outlines our stewardship priorities going forward.
UKGI Stewardship Code Report
22 February 2024 19.38 MB
UKGI paper on the use of ALBs in government: a view from practitioners
A key part of UKGI’s mission is to support departments across Whitehall to be most effective in their role as shareholders of arm’s length bodies. In this paper, published in 2020, we have drawn on our expertise across both the public and private sectors to identify how, where and why arm’s length bodies are used by government, and to define seven critical success factors for setting up and managing them. The paper is intended to help inform debate across Whitehall and beyond on the effective use of arm’s length bodies for specialised delivery, as well as to share practical know-how and expertise in this area.
Case Studies
Nuclear Decommission Agency
The NDA is charged with the mission to clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost effectively. UKGI performs the Shareholder Representative function for the NDA on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (“DESNZ”). The NDA is a complex Asset, governed by the Energy Act with responsibilities to the Secretary of State as well as to the Scottish Government. The NDA delivers its mission as a group via its operating companies, all of whom have their own governance arrangements, and some of whom are regulated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (“ONR”). The NDA structure has developed significantly in recent years, as the NDA has brought its Operating Companies into NDA ownership as subsidiaries. As part of this the NDA has sought to update and codify its governance arrangements internally, and with government.
In 2023, in collaboration with the NDA and DESNZ, UKGI began to update the NDA’s Framework Document, the broad governance and management framework within which the NDA operates and interacts with government. The update focussed on recognising the NDA’s move to a group structure, and establishes a ‘golden thread’ of accountability from Ministers (both UK and Scottish), to the Principal Accounting Officer (DESNZ Permanent Secretary), the Accounting Officer (NDA Chief Executive), and the operating companies, while recognising the role of the NDA Board, Operating Company boards, the regulatory environment of the ONR, and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the update also brought the Framework Document into line with the latest standard format introduced by HM Treasury (“HMT”) in 2022, aimed at making Framework Documents more consistent across government for ease of use.
UKGI acted as key interlocutor with the NDA group on behalf of government, leading engagement with government colleagues in DESNZ, HMT, and the Scottish Government; whilst the NDA coordinated across its operating companies. The resulting Framework Document, drafted in 2023/24 but published following the General Election (on gov.uk here) describes the NDA’s governance framework, brings the internal governance arrangements of the NDA, developed in coordination with its operating companies, into a government context, and sets out clear lines of accountability from the group into government.
The Royal Mint
The Royal Mint (TRM), which is owned by HM Treasury, is the world’s oldest mint and its first responsibility is to make and distribute coins for the United Kingdom. Beyond this it now operates as a diversified business spanning commemorative coins, precious metals, jewellery and an innovative venture to recover gold and other precious metals from end of life electronic waste.
Over the course of FY2024/25 UKGI oversaw the campaign to recruit a new Non-Executive Chair of the Board of Directors of TRM. With the previous Chair’s second term coming to an end, UKGI conducted a recruitment process to find a successor. We planned and executed the campaign, voluntarily adopting many of the best practice principles in the Governance Code for Public Appointments. Activities included (but were not limited to): defining the role, developing the selection criteria, identifying the assessment panel, procuring and managing executive search partners, agreeing the advertising approach, overseeing the sifts and interviews. Throughout the process we engaged with several key stakeholders including the Royal Mint, HM Treasury officials and No.10. We also sought ministerial views at key stages of the process, enabling ministers to be well-informed when making their final decision on who to appoint.
With UKGI’s support, the campaign resulted in a successful recruitment process, attracting a diverse set of candidates, and leading to the appointment of Chris Walton. Since joining TRM in January 2025, Chris has made a positive start to his tenure as Chair, investing significant time in understanding TRM, its mission and its people.
The National Wealth Fund
The National Wealth Fund was launched on 14 October 2024 with £27.8 billion of capital and is at the forefront of investing public money for our future. It delivers against a triple bottom line: helping deliver the government’s growth and clean energy missions, generating a return for the taxpayer and crowding in private capital. UKGI undertakes the role of shareholder for the National Wealth Fund on behalf of HM Treasury.
UKGI has supported HM Treasury in the development of the National Wealth Fund, building on the success of its predecessor, the UK Infrastructure Bank. To ensure the board continues to have the right blend of skills and experience to support the strategic ambitions and activities of the NWF, UKGI, working alongside HM Treasury, has launched recruitment campaigns for three new Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) as well as for a new CEO. UKGI also provides an experienced Non-Executive Director to act as government representative on the NWF’s board, acting as an interlocutor between the department and the NWF’s board and supporting the NWF’s Chair in considering the strength and effectiveness of the Board.
Alongside an expansion into new priority sectors, the NWF will be offering performance guarantees as a new product that has been developed with advice from UKGI. NWF also has a higher economic capital limit than its predecessor, as well as a different risk appetite to the private sector. As part of our role, UKGI works with both NWF and HM Treasury to promote an effective internal controls governance framework, as well as ensuring governance processes are robust. As the NWF continues to expand, UKGI will continue to support it on its mission, helping to drive value for HMT and to the taxpayer.