Board Secretary and Private Office Manager

Are you experienced in working with senior leaders to make governance work well, and help an organisation succeed?  

Can you lead others to deliver an excellent administration and private office function? 

Do you want to use your skills to help the OEP play its full part in environmental protection and improvement? 

The Office for Environmental Protection (the OEP) mission is to protect and recover the environment. Created by the Environment Act 2021, our role is to hold Government and public bodies to account. The OEP do this in several ways including reporting on progress against environmental targets, advising on changes to environmental laws and receiving complaints from the public which can lead to us taking enforcement action. 

This role is based in the OEP’s Business Strategy and Planning team. We are a small team which provides executive support, and leads on governance, strategy, planning and risk management. We exist to make sure that all the OEP does has the best chance of achieving what we intend.  

With a total staff of just over 70, the OEP is a dynamic, friendly and flexible organisation covering both England, Northern Ireland, and environmental matters reserved to the UK government. We offer flexible working arrangements, high profile, dynamic work and the chance to have an impact on improving the state of the environment. 

To find out more about the OEP, what we do, who we are and our current work, visit the OEP website . 

The OEP is a non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra in England and DAERA in Northern Ireland which means it operates independently from Defra and DAERA is not part of the UK Civil Service. Our employees are public servants.
 

This is an exciting opportunity to be at the heart of all that the OEP does. The Board Secretary and Private Office Manager is a trusted support to our most senior leaders and plays a key role in making our organisation ‘hum’ to deliver our mission – to protect and improve the environment, holding government and public authorities to account. 

You’ll ensure that the business of our board is well planned, and seamlessly delivered – working closely and regularly with our Chair and Chief Executive. You’ll design, implement and advise on governance across the organisation, ensuring that the value of our governance is understood, and it is followed so we make good decisions, in the right way and with the right information, and that we maintain compliant and appropriate records. You’ll also play a key role in related projects internally, and with other government departments. 

You’ll also lead our private office and manage a small team which provides executive support services to our Chair, Chief Executive and Executive Directors. You’ll be responsible for correspondence in and out and be a key decision maker for information requests we receive – making sure the public get an excellent service. 

The role holder will: 

• Provide secretariat services to the board and its committees including meeting scheduling, forwarding planning, preparation of agendas, management of papers and minute and record keeping. 
• Prepare papers to the Board, including the Chief Executive’s report. 
• Design and advise on internal governance arrangements, and ensure they are well implemented and understood. 
• Lead on governance and related issues, as a trusted subject matter expert such as ensuring compliance with good practice for board governance and leading preparation of the annual governance statement.  
• Support effective communication between the board, executive and teams, and support the transparency of decisions to the public by preparing material for publication. 
• Ensure our senior leaders are supported to deliver their best, by leading a small team providing executive support and office administration ensuring that work is appropriately managed and prioritised, so service standards are maintained. 
• Manage information requests, acting as a key decision maker for requests under the freedom of information act, or environmental information regulations. 

The above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post. 

These are the essential Skills, Experience and Qualifications that the role holder will need to be able to perform in the role successfully. This will be what the candidate bases their personal statement on and provide evidence against. 

• Experience of working within a governance, secretariat, or similar discipline and/or experience in taking minutes, or other similar critical records. 
• Experience of managing a team to deliver service outcomes.  
• Excellent organisational skills, and the ability to prioritise workloads to ensure the best outcomes are achieved. 
• Ability to work well with others and develop relationships of trust with senior stakeholders within and outside the organisation. 
• Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to summarise complex information concisely and accurately. 
• Excellent organisational awareness and the ability to keep abreast of the key emerging issues, and to proactively consider how they affect the work and priorities of the team. 
• It would be desirable for the candidate to have knowledge of  Freedom of Information act and Environmental Information’s Regulations.  However, it is not essential and training will be provided.  

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Managing a Quality Service

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

• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Knowledge and experience of Governance within an organisation.

Pension  

The OEP offers a generous defined benefit, inflation-proof Civil Service Pension which is a valuable part of your total reward package. Upon joining the OEP, staff can opt to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme which, depending on salary, offers a personal contribution rate of between 4.6% and 7.35%, and an employer contribution rate of between 26.6% and 30.3%. There is also the option to join a partnership scheme. Full details and benefits of the options available to you can be found on the Civil Service Pensions Portal. 

Leave and Flexible Working 

The OEP offers 25 days annual leave rising to 30 days over 5 years for all new entrants.   

Additional paid leave is available where necessary to cater for a variety of situations including, but not limited to, family-related leave, volunteering days, exam and study leave, public duties and trade union activities. In addition, we offer a generous enhanced maternity leave, parental leave and shared parental leave policy. 

The OEP is supportive of flexible working and has a flexible working policy to allow for variations in individuals working hours where this is compatible with business need. 

Performance Management and In Year Bonus Scheme 

The OEP is committed to promoting a high-performing culture for all employees.  Performance and development management is key to developing trusting relationships between managers and employees so that they can be their best and thrive at work. Every individual will have a performance management plan which will be reviewed on a regular basis.  

The OEP has a quarterly ‘In-year Bonus Scheme’ where individuals and/ or teams can be recognised for outstanding one-off contributions and achievements. 

Learning and Development 

The OEP is a learning organisation and strongly supports the continuous professional development of all employees through both personal and work related study. The OEP will pay for one relevant profession membership per employee to support continuous professional development. 

Every employee has access to five days learning and development each year to support professional development. This could be through Civil Service Learning mandatory and voluntary learning, corporate inductions, staff events and welcome days as well as relevant professional qualifications and specific courses. 

Staff Wellbeing 

Staff wellbeing is extremely important and the OEP strives to provide access to numerous resources to aid the wellbeing of its employees. Current initiatives include: 

Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providing free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice and guidance to support employees with both personal and employment issues. This may include personal wellbeing, career development or legal matters such as landlord / tenant disputes.  

Access to an Occupational Health Service to provide a range of support service to help with the way you feel at work.  

Access to trained Mental Health First Aiders and wider Defra Group mental health first aid network and resources.

Free access to Headspace, a mindfulness, meditation and sleep app.

Access to a Financial Wellbeing Portal.

Free eye tests and a contribution to glasses/ lenses if required for VDU use. 

Salary Sacrifice, Discounts and SmartTech Benefits 

All employees have access to the STaR, Reward Gateway an online platform providing access to hundreds of discounts, offers and cashback options with well-known retailers. They offer a SmartTech scheme, a Cash Healthcare plan and numerous other benefits and services. 

Job contact :

• Name : OEP Recruitment
• Email : recruitment@theoep.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@theoep.org.uk