Ministerial Private Secretary
2 days ago
London
London, York Job Summary You will be working in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life from the food we eat, to the air we breathe, to the water we drink. You will form part of the Ministerial, Growth and Resilience Directorate, providing support on the Government Growth Mission as well as working on regulation and regulatory reform. It also includes Defra’s Briefing, Parliamentary, and ministerial support functions, including Defra’s Ministerial and Permanent Secretary Private Offices. We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups. Location These roles are Full-Time Only, Ministerial private office roles will be based in London only, and Permanent Secretary private office roles will be based in London or York. Job Description These are stretching, rewarding and varied HEO Private Secretary roles, supporting the ministerial team to deliver on their priorities. You can expect an exciting and fast-paced experience, where no two days are the same. The role is critical to ensuring ministers can work effectively with the department, wider government, external stakeholders, and parliament. You will work with a small, close-knit team and have a significant amount of autonomy. As part of the role, you will be required to: • Lead on a broad policy portfolio, ensuring the minister’s priorities in this area are well understood by the department and working collaboratively with teams across Defra to ensure they are delivered., • You will build strong relationships with colleagues across the Ministerial teams, special advisers, policy, communications and beyond to successfully deliver the minister’s priorities., • You will represent the minister in discussions and negotiations across government – including with No.10 and external stakeholders., • You will be the minister’s first port-of-call in this area and will need to develop an understanding of the relevant policy issues so you can brief confidently on the topic., • Lead on organising key strategic visits for the minister related to your portfolio., • Ensuring effective join-up with policy teams, comms and other departments where necessary., • Ensuring the minister knows what to expect, is well-briefed and any visit runs as smoothly as possible., • Support the Head of Office to make sure team management and office processes are as effective as possible., • Supporting the wider team to ensure the minister’s time is used effectively, decisions are received and communicated efficiently, and correspondence and Parliamentary Questions are dealt with swiftly., • Play a wider corporate role within the Private Office, helping to make sure Defra PO is a great place to work., • Could include getting involved with a People Survey workstream, volunteering to promote the PO cover scheme or doing outreach across the department about the role of PO. These are stretching, rewarding and varied HEO Private Secretary roles, supporting the ministerial team to deliver on their priorities. You can expect an exciting and fast-paced experience, where no two days are the same. The role is critical to ensuring ministers can work effectively with the department, wider government, external stakeholders, and parliament. You will work with a small, close-knit team and have a significant amount of autonomy. As part of the role, you will be required to: • Lead on a broad policy portfolio, ensuring the minister’s priorities in this area are well understood by the department and working collaboratively with teams across Defra to ensure they are delivered., • You will build strong relationships with colleagues across the Ministerial teams, special advisers, policy, communications and beyond to successfully deliver the minister’s priorities., • You will represent the minister in discussions and negotiations across government – including with No.10 and external stakeholders., • You will be the minister’s first port-of-call in this area and will need to develop an understanding of the relevant policy issues so you can brief confidently on the topic., • Lead on organising key strategic visits for the minister related to your portfolio., • Ensuring effective join-up with policy teams, comms and other departments where necessary., • Ensuring the minister knows what to expect, is well-briefed and any visit runs as smoothly as possible., • Support the Head of Office to make sure team management and office processes are as effective as possible., • Supporting the wider team to ensure the minister’s time is used effectively, decisions are received and communicated efficiently, and correspondence and Parliamentary Questions are dealt with swiftly., • Play a wider corporate role within the Private Office, helping to make sure Defra PO is a great place to work., • Could include getting involved with a People Survey workstream, volunteering to promote the PO cover scheme or doing outreach across the department about the role of PO. Person specification Essential Criteria • Ability to develop an excellent working relationship with the minister and work effectively with a range of stakeholders, including officials across a range of grades (Communicating and Influencing), • The ability to see issues and decisions in the context of the bigger strategic picture (Seeing the big picture), • Confidence to use initiative to make effective decisions. (Making Effective Decisions), • Ability to work proactively and reactively in a fast paced environment often with competing priorities (Delivering at Pace) Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: • Communicating and Influencing, • Delivering at Pace, • Making Effective Decisions, • Seeing the Big Picture We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form: • Communicating and Influencing Alongside your salary of £34,765, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £10,071 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. A career in the Civil Service is like no other. If you’re looking to join a world class team and develop your career with us, then the Civil Service is the place for you! You might be wondering, “what’s in it for me”? Take a look below at some of the benefits available to you as a civil servant in Defra. Ministerial Growth And Resilience Directorate Benefits Learning and Development Everyone in Defra is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. When you join the Directorate, you will be welcomed into your new team through an induction programme that will provide you with helpful information on the civil service, Defra, our work and our policies. Your line manager will also work with you to establish your priorities for the year, developing a performance, learning and development plan tailored to you and your role, while also working with you to connect you with a civil service mentor to help empower you in your new role with the opportunity to benefit from paid for coaching. Most importantly, we’re keen to invest in you! As a civil servant, you will also have access to Civil Service Learning where you can participate in professional development programmes across a wide spectrum of subjects and professions. Department Benefits Technology We’re a firm believer in agile and flexible working. When you join Defra, we’ll kit you out with a new Windows 10 Laptop, smartphone and rucksack to make sure that you perform your best wherever you are. Leave 25 days' paid leave per annum rising to 30 days after five years’ service, in addition to eight public holidays and the King’s Birthday privilege day. We also offer • competitive maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave;, • study leave for the pursuit of academic studies;, • 3 days paid leave for volunteering per annum;, • 15 days paid leave per year for reservist training; and,, • generous paid sick leave. Cycle to Work Scheme Defra loans you a bike for your commute as a tax-free benefit. At the end of the loan period, you have the option to buy the bike, saving 30% of the original cost. Season Ticket and Bicycle Loan We offer interest-free season ticket loans, to all Defra employees with more than three months’ service, for purchasing train and bus season tickets, as well as station car parking. For those unable to take advantage of tax-free benefits, we also offer an interest-free bicycle loan to enable the purchase of a bicycle for commuting. Gym, Social and Sports Activities Our offices have a range of different onsite facilities, including gym, fitness facilities, games room, showers and cycle storage. There are also a variety of networks and social groups to join. Ask your line manager for more information. Restaurant and Café Facilities A range of our offices offer onsite restaurant and café facilities. Civil Service Benefits Pension Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package, and you will be given the chance to join one of three different pension plans. You can find more information on the Civil Service Pension on the MyCSP Website at Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. Application Process As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a Personal Statement, CV and a 250 word Behaviour statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. Sift Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. Sifting is likely to be occur w/c 5th January, with interviews likely to 10-14days after. These dates are indicative only. Interview If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours and Strengths You may also be asked to provide a presentation question. Interviews are expected to last no longer than 60 minutes. Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview. Further Information Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application. However, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate, and based on your own personal experience. Submitting content that has been generated by AI or copied from others and presented as your own may be considered plagiarism. Applications found to contain such content may be withdrawn, and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please refer to our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Location As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s). Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD. Reserve List A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appo...