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Salary
Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Job grade
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Type of role
Business Management and Improvement
Governance
Policy
Secretarial
Working pattern
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About the job
Job summary
The Secretariat sits at the heart of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in the Ministerial Strategy Directorate. We oversee the Departments governance framework and provide strategic and logistical support to the Departmental Board, Executive Committee, and their subcommittees. The team also manages the Department’s relationship with Non-Executives; ensuring the Department engages them strategically on priority pieces of work, and managing a tailored Private Office function for their interactions with the Department.
The team is recruiting for two Strategic Governance Advisors. The job holders will lead and manage a Department-wide committee or committees. This will involve building and managing strong working relationships with a wide range of senior stakeholders, taking responsibility for progressing their committees complex and high-profile remit. They will also gain exposure to and experience of DBTs governance arrangements, giving them a cross-cutting view of DBTs activity and the delivery of its ambitious agenda.
Job description
The two candidates will respectively manage the Investment Committee and the Audit and Risk Assurance and Nominations and Governance Committees.
The Investment Committee is a subcommittee of the Departments Executive Committee and it provides senior executive leadership on investment decisions related to high value or high-risk projects and programmes in DBTs portfolio.
The Audit and Risk Assurance and Nominations and Governance Committees are subcommittees of the Departments Board. They respectively provide leadership and independent oversight on the Departments management of risk, assurance and audit, and of senior leadership, succession planning and the Departments governance arrangements.
The Investment Committee meets once a month, whereas the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee meets roughly eight times per year, and the Nominations and Governance Committee does so twice. The job holder will support the leadership of their Committee or Committees to fulfil their responsibilities. This will include managing a quality service by:
- Setting committee agendas in line with the committee Terms of Reference.
- Commissioning papers, quality assuring papers and creating each meeting pack.
- High-quality minuting and recording of actions.
- High-quality advice to teams, documentation to support process, clear commissioning and instruct follow up of actions.
- Developing an effective working relationship with the Chair and Committee members.
- Developing an effective working relationship with senior stakeholders across DBT and beyond to ensure issues are brought to the Committees at the right time to support effective decision making at the necessary level.
- Undertaking effectiveness reviews of the Committee when necessary and implementing continuous improvements to the service provided.
- Lead on broader project based work as opportunities arise.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Experience of working on competing priorities, often to short deadlines.
- Strong planning and organisational skills with a focus on detail.
- A willingness to identify and implement improvements to processes.
- Experience of building relationships across a wide network of stakeholders.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of working with senior stakeholders.
- Understanding of or experience in governance.
Personal Attributes & Skills
The successful candidate will build an understanding of the Departments priorities and will use that awareness to ensure that Committees are appropriately engaged across the breadth of the Departments work.
The successful candidate will be pro-active and work well under pressure. With line manager support, they should be comfortable managing competing priorities and short notice requests.
They will need the soft skills to build and maintain effective working relationships, based on mutual respect and trust, with a wide range of senior and critical stakeholders across the Department and beyond. The role entails a significant amount of senior stakeholder engagement and the successful candidate will need to have the confidence to appropriately engage with these individuals.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Benefits
£8,489 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- 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%
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, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities
Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.
Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.
To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:
- A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
- A Personal Statement explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential criteria.
It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change.
In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the CV only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Reasonable Adjustments
We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment:
Complete the Assistance required section on the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.
Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
Candidate Support
You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview.
Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department.
Further Information:
- A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.
- Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
- The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.
- New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
- Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty. Any applicant who has details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
- A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
- Terms and Conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
- Please note the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland/Access NI on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk
For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email accessni@ani.x.gsi.gov.uk
Vetting
The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Rafi Dover
- Email : Rafi.Dover@businessandtrade.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : dbtrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email: Resourcing@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.
For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints
