Senior Government Engagement Officer

Are you committed to helping us regulate health and social care within England?

When thinking about what drives you every day in your job, what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work what comes to mind?  For 3000+ people at the CQC we end each day knowing that we have made a difference to the lives of those most in need in our communities. We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve. We are looking for people who are caring, demonstrate integrity and work well as part of a team to join with us and share in this sense of achievement. If you would like to help us make a positive impact to health and social care within England, then read on.

Why this could be a great role for you….
The Government Engagement team leads the delivery of CQC’s day to day engagement with the Department of Health and Social Care, supporting an important accountability and transparency process.

In this role you will work closely with colleagues across CQC, including media, policy, strategy and data and insight to deliver our engagement activity, ensuring CQC senior colleagues are adequately supported and DHSC are engaged on our activity, helping to manage one of our key external relationships.

The GE team’s focus spans the whole of health and social care, offering the opportunity to learn more  not only about different parts of the organisation and DHSC/the Government, but the health and care sector as a whole. You will also be able to further develop your engagement  relationship management skills.

This is an interesting, fast-paced role that will see you regularly engaging with DHSC, including Ministers and Private Offices, ensuring a clear two-way flow of information, to support a ‘no surprises’ relationship.

Being able to identify opportunities and risks, briefing internally and externally and ensuring colleagues are kept up to speed on Government activity are all key parts of the role – so there is plenty of variety in your day-to-day.

What you will bring…
We’re looking for a candidate who wants to further develop their engagement skills in Government facing role and learn about the health and social care landscape in England.
Being able to work well under pressure, managing often competing, short deadlines and the ability  building strong working relationships with colleagues of all seniorities You will also be able to understand complex information quickly and present it in a concise manner, as well as having strong organisational skills and a very good eye for detail.
You will be someone who thrives in a busy communications environment, able to work with various teams across the organisation and work independently when required. We’re looking for someone who is eager to learn, not afraid to get stuck in and able to prioritise effectively.

For an informal discussion or further information about this role please contact Hiring Manager – James Bryant, Government and Engagement Manager; James.bryant@cqc.org.uk and for general enquiries contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk

Support the Government Engagement Manager to uphold CQC’s formal accountability and transparency to Government and Parliament.
Lead on day to day interactions with the Department of Health and Social Care, taking responsibility for ensuring robust governance procedures are adhered to.
Undertakeengagement across Government tohelp deliver CQC’s strategic objectives and independent voice on its regulatory activities.
Lead on high profile government engagement activities as required.

Accountabilities:
Uphold CQC’s formal accountability to Government and Parliament by leading on CQC’s responses to Parliamentary Questions, information requests and briefing requests from government departments.

Engage with the Department for Health and Social Care and wider Government Departments to support accountability and transparency of information, as set out in the organisation’s Public and Parliamentary Accountability Protocol.

Provide briefing support for senior colleagues in their engagement with Government, ensuring briefings are accurate, focused and timely, reflect appropriate consultation with the wider organisation and take into account the broader organisational and Government environment.

Support senior colleagues at meetings with government as required. Research and drafting briefings, letters and consultation responses for audiences in government.

Identify and support opportunities for partnership working and effective information exchange with government, including keeping government informed of progress in the implementation of CQC’s strategy.

Ensure the organisation is kept informed of relevant developments across Government Departments.

Ensure that the Department for Health and Social Care and wider Government Departments are kept informed of announcements and developments in CQC’s approach.

Coordinate CQC responses to government consultations and guidance where required.

Lead on planning and delivery of visits from international government delegations.

Lead on day to day development of key insight products, gathering insight from Government Engagement activities and government sources.

Support the Government Engagement Manager in delivering an effective system of quality assurance and improvement for all government information requests.

Support and mentor the Government Engagement Officer in their role, helping ensure their work is accurate, helpful, timely, consistent and of a high quality.

Work across the Parliamentary Government and Stakeholder Engagement (PGSE) team as required, to support delivery of team objectives.

Deputise for the Government Engagement Manager as appropriate.

Actively promote diversity and equality of opportunity, treat everyone with dignity and respect and avoid unlawful discrimination and act in accordance with CQC Values and Behaviours.

Work across the wider Engagement Directorate to support strategic engagement planning and delivery, including through Account Management.

Take responsibility for personal learning, development and wellbeing.

Essential Skills and Experience:
Considerable experience of working in government relations or communications. Experience in health or social care or on regulatory issues would be beneficial.
Strong knowledge of the UK Government and Parliamentary system.
Degree level education or equivalent experience.
Interest in and knowledge of current affairs.
High-quality written and oral communication skills. Able to translate complex information into digestible briefings and concise information.
Flexible and able to manage a diverse workload with competing deadlines.
Experience of providing timely and consistent support to senior colleagues.
Excellent research skills and experience in using analysis to find solutions.
Ability to manage relationships and collaborate effectively.
Very strong eye for detail and ability to quality assurance written communications to an extremely high standard.
IT literate – MS Office (including Excel), internet. Online email client competency would also be desirable.
Good team player, able to co-operate and support colleagues to produce better results.
Ability to be decisive and to analyse information, including policy documents and statistics, in order to make decisions and develop key messages.
High level of organisational, self-motivation and reasoning skills.
Excellent time management. Ability to work under pressure, prioritise workload and meet strict deadlines.
Project management experience would be beneficial.
Experience of responding to parliamentary questions would be beneficial.

• What we can offer you…
  Your health and wellbeing are important to us and are supported through our benefits scheme
  – 27 days’ annual leave, rising with service to 32.5 days, plus 8 Bank Holidays
  – NHS pension scheme, with around a 14% employer contribution
  – Free employee assistance service 24 hours a day
  – Discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics and fleet cars
  – Discounted gym vouchers
  – Cycle to work scheme
  – Internal reward scheme where you could earn yourself a voucher or two!
  – Equipment for homeworking

  We want to make working for CQC a great experience for everyone, and to role model a diverse and representative culture. To support an inclusive environment where colleagues feel empowered to bring their whole self to work, we support a variety of staff networks, including the Race Equality Network, LGBT+ Equality Network, Carers Equality Network, Disability Equality Network and Gender Equality network.

  We want to support you to succeed and be your very best with opportunities for training and development; along with the support of experienced managers and mentors.

  Individual Adjustments…
  We are committed to being open and transparent around our processes and we endeavour to offer every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. We seek to support candidates to identify potential challenges and work with them to identify and facilitate individual adjustments as appropriate. Should you require assistance and/or would like to request an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact a member of the team via email: recruitment@cqc.org.uk. 

Job contact :

• Name : recruitment@cqc.org.uk
• Email : recruitment@cqc.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@cqc.org.uk