Researcher (Statistics)

House of Commons

The House of Commons a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK’s thriving democratic system. 

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.

Introduction 

The Research and Information team delivers research, information and other services for Members, their staff, House staff and the public.

Research and information services aimed primarily at Members and their staff are provided under the House of Commons Library brand. Research services are provided by eight research sections, each responsible for research services in broad subject groupings. The Social & General Statistics Section provides research and briefings on a wide range of statistics including population, housing, health, social security, social services, education, crime and justice, elections, transport, pensions, energy and the environment.

The core work of this role involves providing briefings for MPs and their staff on statistics in one or more of the areas covered by the Section. These can be one-off answers to specific requests from MPs and their staff or contributions to our published outputs on legislation and topical issues. Often this work is carried out jointly with policy and legal specialist colleagues.

This vacancy is to replace one our researchers who covered statistics on elections and parliament. While knowledge of these topics would be useful you could have experience of dealing with statistics in these and/or other areas covered by the Section. The job requires someone who is comfortable dealing with data and able to contextualise this for debates and policy discussion. The work often involves collaboration with researchers in other sections who are dealing with the legal or technical aspects of policy.

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Research and briefing work on statistics within the Commons Library including:
  • Providing accurate, impartial, clear, fit-for-purpose written and oral briefings on legislation and topical issues on relevant subjects, in response to specific enquiries from Members and their staff.
  • Preparing and publishing new briefing papers and data as required (e.g. on legislation and topical issues, and on matters of interest to Parliament and MPs, such as data for parliamentary constituencies) and updating them as appropriate. This includes collaborating with colleagues when appropriate and commenting constructively on others’ work.
• Supporting the broader work of the Social & General Statistics Section, which may include research work on any of the subjects covered by the team.
• Maintaining good current awareness, level of knowledge and range of contacts on specialist subjects, and a broad current awareness of all subjects dealt with by the section.

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• Knowledge and experience of using official statistics for the UK and other countries in one or more areas covered by the Social & General Statistics Section. Experience of making statistics accessible to non-specialists and a good knowledge of current affairs and UK public policy.
• Ability to collate complex, technical material, relevant to a subject and to analyse, interpret and present it clearly and accurately for a non-specialist. Experience of using Excel and tools such as R or Power BI to analyse and present data.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, and the ability to explain complex information clearly and succinctly with strict political impartiality and authority, in line with the needs of the audience.
• Experience of prioritising workload for yourself to ensure changing short, medium and long-term demands and deadlines are met.
• Ability to work successfully within a team, whilst upholding the values of equality, diversity and inclusion.

In addition to your salary, we offer an attractive range of benefits including: 

• 30 days’ annual leave (increasing to 35 days after first full leave year). 
• Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. 
• Access to training and development. 
• Flexible working. 
• Interest free season ticket loan and bicycle loan. 

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@parliament.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@parliament.uk