FOI release

Project & Programme management office enquiry

Case reference FOI2026/01314

Received 25 June 2026

Published 20 July 2026

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following structured data regarding the council’s corporate Project Management Office (PMO) or equivalent change/transformation delivery functions.

To assist you and keep this request within the statutory cost limit, please provide short answers to the following 5 distinct points:

1. PMO Structure: Does the council currently operate a centralized corporate PMO, or are project management functions completely decentralized across individual service directorates?

2. Staffing Headcount: What is the total current headcount (expressed as Full-Time Equivalents / FTE) of dedicated project managers, programme managers, and PMO analysts directly employed or contracted by the council?

3. Software Tooling: What specific Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software, work management platforms, or enterprise dashboard tools (e.g., Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, Monday.com, Jira, Excel) are officially mandated for tracking corporate project risk, budgets, and milestone delivery?

4. Annual Budget: What was the total operational budget allocated specifically to the corporate PMO or central transformation team for the most recent financial year broken into staffing and other costs?

5. LGR Transition Governance (If Applicable): If the council is currently undergoing or actively preparing for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), has a temporary or dedicated "Shadow Council" or "Joint Transition Committee" PMO function been established? If yes, who is the appointed Interim Programme Director or Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) leading that transition?

6. What is your total annual spend on external consultants, suppliers or technology companies in relation to project management office support.

Response

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please find the answers to your queries below:

The Council does operate a centralised PMO that sets standards, governance, reporting, and oversight across all change programme and projects. It’s a hybrid model where the central corporate PMO provides the governance and reporting, while delivery teams sit within departments.

2. Staffing Headcount: What is the total current headcount (expressed as Full-Time Equivalents / FTE) of dedicated project managers, programme managers, and PMO analysts directly employed or contracted by the council?

The total headcount for PMO employees with the job titles Project Manager or Project Support Officer is FTEs is 12.08 for Guildford Borough Council. There are also 2 FTEs with the title Project Support Officer.

3. Software Tooling: What specific Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software, work management platforms, or enterprise dashboard tools (e.g., Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, Monday.com, Jira, Excel) are officially mandated for tracking corporate project risk, budgets, and milestone delivery?

Verto is the project management system for Guildford Borough Council. We use standard format templates and a joint governance framework to manage reporting dashboards to track the health of projects, programmes and portfolios (including overall health, risk, issues, resource, tasks /milestones and cost).

4. Annual Budget: What was the total operational budget allocated specifically to the corporate PMO or central transformation team for the most recent financial year broken into staffing and other costs?

Business Transformation Budge FY 2026/27:

Superannuation	£11,216
National Insurance	£6,862
Salaries	£50,749
Agency	£14,625
Private Medical Scheme	£1,074
Insurance	£3,348
Services (Waverley recharge of employee costs)	£232,686.50

5. LGR Transition Governance (If Applicable): If the council is currently undergoing or actively preparing for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), has a temporary or dedicated "Shadow Council" or "Joint Transition Committee" PMO function been established? If yes, who is the appointed Interim Programme Director or Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) leading that transition?

Yes, there is a West Surrey Shadow Authority and a central PMO function consisting of the County Council and District and Borough officers. Terence Herbert is the Senior Responsible Officer for Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation in Surrey and Chief Executive of Surrey County Council. Further information can be found online via the following website: https://www.surreylgrhub.gov.uk/

6. What is your total annual spend on external consultants, suppliers or technology companies in relation to project management office support.

The Council spends £18,600 per year on technology (Verto) in relation to project management office support.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team

Guildford Borough Council

Documents

There are no documents for this release.

This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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