EO Diary Manager, Director’s Private Office, Public Bodies Reform Programme

The Cabinet Office is part of the centre of Government, co-ordinating policy and strategy.  Comprising a number of different business units, the department has three core functions supporting its overarching purpose of making Government more effective:

• Supporting the Prime Minister – to define and deliver the Government’s objectives;
• Supporting the Cabinet – to drive the coherence, quality and delivery of policy and operations across departments;
• Strengthening the Civil Service – to ensure the civil service is organised effectively and has the capability in terms of skills, values and leadership to deliver the Government’s objectives.

At the Cabinet Office, we support the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Cabinet Office in delivering key objectives and milestones ensuring the smooth running of government — from developing policy to modernising public services. We welcome applications from those outside the Civil Service and from diverse backgrounds. We are committed to diversity and inclusivity and welcome talented people from all backgrounds to help build a civil service that reflects the society it serves.

We are recruiting for a Diary Manager for the Director of the Public Bodies Reform Programme. This is an opportunity to work at the centre of government, directly supporting the Director of Public Bodies with diary and stakeholder engagements. The role will be challenging and rewarding, requiring the successful candidate to build strong collaborative relationships with the Public Bodies team, wider Private Office, and stakeholders from outside the Cabinet Office. 

Team Summary

The Public Bodies Team is responsible for overseeing the delivery of services through approximately 300 arm’s length bodies (ALBs). In 2022, arm’s length bodies employed around 340k people. In 2019-2020 (the last financial year unaffected by temporary Covid-19 funding), they spent c. £243bn. ALBs touch every aspect of public life, from science funding through UK Research and Innovation to national museums like the V&A, leisure funding through Sport England, and public healthcare through the Care Quality Commission. 

The Public Bodies Team sits within the Corporate Service Group’s strategy cluster. The strategy cluster supports Cabinet Office ministers, the Civil Service’s Chief Operating Officer and the Cabinet Office’s Chief Operating Officer in discharging their duties and delivering on the Government’s priorities. Strategy colleagues will have access to unique L&D, networks and exposure to senior individuals. 

The post holder will work in the branch responsible for the Director’s Private Office, which work closely with Ministers and the Permanent Secretary’s Private Offices, Special Advisors, and senior officials. Our team is responsible for delivering the Public Bodies Reform Programme – we are here to help our Ministers and senior officials deliver their priorities and to support departments across government in working with them.

The role will be fast-paced as you work to support the delivery of the Public Bodies Reform Programme priorities while managing a busy diary and other competing interests and commitments to ensure the Director’s private office runs smoothly. This will involve building strong relationships with senior staff and require excellent judgement on time management, meticulous organisation and attention to detail. You will work with colleagues from a range of departments both inside the Cabinet Office and, more broadly, to facilitate the work of the Public Bodies Reform Programme. 

The successful candidate will have varied responsibilities, including working on delivering parliamentary business, managing a busy workload and diary commitments, and providing general administrative support for the Director’s Private Office. 

As a Diary Manager, the core elements of the role will involve: 

• Providing diary management and private secretary support to the Director, including oversight and management of the Director’s diary, papers, clearance slots, and other materials. Advising the Director on priorities on a real-time basis, commissioning materials on their behalf, and helping teams flag priorities to them. 
• Actively monitoring and managing the Director’s inbox and using sound judgement to identify and deal swiftly with urgent queries.
• Effective and efficient day-to-day and strategic diary management for the Director to make the best use of his time, including organising meetings/room bookings as requested, reviewing and accepting meetings and invitations and monitoring the Directors’ inbox for diary-related emails. 
• Preparing meeting packs and papers and commissioning and collating briefing and papers to ensure the Director is provided with the relevant information before meetings, remaining aware of and following up on deadlines. 
• Making travel and accommodation bookings that adhere to the Cabinet Office policies.
• Building a network across the private office community within the Cabinet Office and other government departments.
• Leading the Programme’s governance logistics, agendas and actions (this includes helping the director shape the agendas for their team meetings and following up on actions).
• Supporting the Director and Deputy Director and being the Single Point of Contact for the team.

Who are we looking for?

While an understanding of private office and business management activity is desirable, it is not essential and we welcome diversity of experience. 

You will be a crucial team member, pitching in and happy to be part of an inclusive and supportive team. Reliability, proactiveness, and enjoying fast-paced environments where priorities change, often at very short notice, will be key. You’ll be a confident communicator who is comfortable working autonomously and adapts quickly to changing business needs. 

Essential Criteria

• Ability to be flexible and adaptable to changing priorities.
• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills with the ability to work effectively across various tasks and under pressure.
• Confident in dealing with senior people and possess strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to be tactful and maintain positive relations with stakeholders, and able to exercise discretion.
• Good judgement to manage situations independently and understand when to escalate and how.

Desirable 

• An understanding of how private office works.
• Experience delivering aspects of business management portfolio, e.g. business planning, project management.
• Experience in working effectively with a wide range of stakeholders with the ability to work collaboratively to resolve difficult issues.

Personal Attributes and Skills

You will be highly organised with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver them at pace to a high standard.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate their potential and capability in the following areas: 

• Excellent organisational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to take responsibility for high-quality work, demonstrating personal resilience.
• Able to communicate, influence and collaborate successfully with others, including external and senior stakeholders.
• Strong work ethic and a team player who can create an inclusive and supportive environment.

The role presents opportunities to take on extra responsibilities and deliver small-scale projects within the team, so you should be a self-starter with drive and energy.  

Candidates join our team from a range of backgrounds and we are keen to hear from applicants who have developed these skills outside of government as well as from existing civil servants. If you have the skills to do these things outside government, we can support you in learning how to do that in a central government context.

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Delivering at Pace

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%.
• At least 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

What are we offering? 

The role within the Public Bodies Team offers the opportunity to support HMG’s agenda and top priorities directly. Our programme interacts with almost every UK government department. As such, it provides an excellent opportunity to develop an overview of the breadth of work undertaken by the civil service, which will stand the successful candidate in good stead to develop a career in government.

The Public Bodies Team is committed to supporting and developing its team members. You can access a wide range of learning and development materials if successful. We can offer a range of flexible working arrangements that will be agreed upon with successful candidates on a case-by-case basis before starting employment. We would typically expect a Cabinet Office employee to work 40-60% of the time in the office.

The Public Bodies Team is committed to diversity and inclusion through our training offer, a range of team initiatives, and a team culture in which all team members can thrive. We’re committed to making the Public Bodies Team a great team to work in.

The Department aims to have 50% of its staff based outside London by 2025. A key part is growing our second headquarters at Glasgow’s 1 Atlantic Square. 

Please note that this role is based in Glasgow.

Job contact :

• Name : Wendy Quinn
• Email : wendy.quinn@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk