G7 Policy Lead

The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes:

• Developing and drafting legislation
• Providing legal advice on policies
• Securing our economic and trade relationships
• Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
• Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice

We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. 

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.  

To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.

About the Strategy Team

The Government Legal Department (GLD) is the largest provider of legal services across government, working with all the main Whitehall Departments.   From roads to rivers, and health to human rights, our work touches on most aspects of public life. 

The department has more than 14 client-facing advisory teams who provide legal advice on the development, design and implementation of government policies and decisions, draft secondary legislation and work with Parliamentary Counsel on primary legislation.  Our cross-cutting expert service groups for Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law provide specialist legal services to a wide range of government departments and public bodies. 

We are a non-ministerial government department with more than 2,300 employees, around 1,800 of whom are solicitors or barristers. The department is based in London with teams in Croydon, Bristol, Manchester, and Leeds.  

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism and also a brilliant place to work where we can all thrive and fulfil our potential.

The Strategy, People & Culture directorate supports and enables GLD to help the government to govern well within the rule of law. 

Strategy, People & Culture is made up of a wide range of teams and professionals, who together support GLD to deliver a brilliant legal service for our clients across government. There are five principal teams – Project Delivery, Communications, Strategy & Business Management, Private Office & Governance, and Human Resources. 

The work of the Strategy Team supports the Board, Committees and the Strategic Leadership Group to provide strategic direction for the department, and to deliver GLD’s Strategy effectively. We ensure that GLD’s work is aligned to government priorities and that senior leaders have the insights they need for GLD to deliver its key priorities within the department and across government. Our developing role is one designed to sharpen senior leaders’ strategic vision, supporting oversight, and informing decision-making. We highlight the achievements and challenges that GLD faces. This work helps our senior leaders scrutinise GLD’s performance.

We undertake strategy development and projects to support GLD, with a renewed focus on the longer term, as well as ensuring the department can respond rapidly to emerging or urgent issues. We are a friendly and busy team, working closely with senior leaders across GLD. 

The Role

There are currently three vacant roles in the team. Whilst they have their own focus and specialism, the team works in an agile and flexible way, especially during times of peak activity, and provide resilience by way of being able to cover the full spectrum of work undertaken within the team.

This role will focus on the delivery of the Department’s strategic ambition through defining, establishing and implementing robust planning and reporting regimes. In 2024 GLD will launch a new strategy and underpinning corporate plan. The strategy is an evolution of our current business plan and the Executive Team’s ambitions to move the Department from great to outstanding.

The strategy team has delivered this strategy working closely with the GLD Board, Executives, and Law Officers, defining what the GLD of the future will look like. With the launch of this new strategy in the new year, the team’s focus is now turning to enabling the Department to deliver its ambitions, and monitoring that delivery to provide assurance to the senior leadership that GLD is on track to achieve its vision.

We will do this by continuing to work closely with the Board, Executive Team, and Law Officers to develop the required planning and reporting mechanisms, ensuring programmes of work deliver our ambitions. We will also work across the department, with colleagues in both the corporate and legal professions to monitor delivery of the services required to move the organisation from great to outstanding.

As Policy Lead you will be leading a small team of strategy and policy professionals to achieve our team objectives in supporting the Permanent Secretary and Executive Team. The below covers most but not all that you can expect to do in this role:

• Be the main relationship holder with the Attorney General’s Office, providing a voice for the department and ensuring that the sponsorship relationship works in the most effective way possible for GLD.
• Take a lead role in the further development of the Government Legal Profession (GLP), supporting the Permanent Secretary as Head of the GLP, to deliver a new GLP Strategy with senior colleagues from across government.
• Lead on engaging with the Cabinet Office’s Functional Reform Programme of work.
• Build strong relationships across government and with external stakeholders, including the Attorney General’s Office, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
• With the Head of Strategy, lead your team in setting work/resource plans.
• Lead activities within team to develop and implement parliamentary secretariat functions, such as PQs and FOIs, and knowledge capture and sharing within and for the wider Strategy Team.
• Defining objectives for your team and individuals.
• Promoting the benefits of diversity and champion inclusion to work with your team to achieve outstanding performance and recognise and reward as appropriate.
• Manage office attendance and outcome delivery in line with policy including reasonable adjustments, flexible working, compressed hours and hybrid working patters
• Use data and other information to draft reports, advice and briefings to senior leaders on a variety of policy and strategy areas.
• Build networks across the corporate and operational functions to work together and influence the delivery of GLD ambitions.
• Prepare and provide material for organisation wide engagement through multiple channels on the strategy launch, implementation and realisation. Engaging with staff at all levels and including the Trade Unions and Diversity and Inclusion networks.
• Be an active member of the policy profession both within GLD and cross-government policy. Taking a leadership role in the wider profession and activities, seeking to help embed the policy profession in GLD).

Behaviours – Essential

    Below are details of the Success Profile that make up this role.

    You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the criteria at interview and/or selection stage.

    We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership (Lead Behaviour)
• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Essential Criteria

• We are looking for people who can research, bring creativity, bigger picture and structured thinking skills to the team. You may have transferrable skills that you can bring across.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skill.
• Experience of working effectively across organisational boundaries.
• Good team player, with willingness to flex and support priority work as required.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft applications, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Experience – Desirable

• Writing and delivering policy and strategy.
• Working in or closely with private office.
• Working with seniors.

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : clare.lain@Governmentlegal.gov.uk
• Email : clare.lain@Governmentlegal.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : activecampaigns@Governmentlegal.gov.uk