Deputy Director – Legal and Information Assurance

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) was established in October 2007 as an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We support the MoJ in ensuring access to justice in a way that best meets the needs of the public.

At the OPG our purpose is to protect adults at risk and support them to make their own decisions – you can come into the office every day knowing you’re making a positive difference to people’s lives.

We’re passionate about inclusion and creating a sense of belonging for all our people. With a wide range of staff networks, there’s rarely a week that passes without an opportunity to celebrate and embrace our successes and our diversity. We also place a value on learning, training, and flexible working.

The Deputy Director – Legal and Information Assurance position is a key leadership role as part of the senior leadership team at the OPG, and reporting to me as the Public Guardian and Chief Executive of the OPG. 

This position can be based at any of the following locations:

102 Petty France (MOJ) London, SW1H 9AJ, Nottingham OPG Nottingham, NG2 1AR, OPG Birmingham, B1 1TF.

The Legal and Information Assurance Directorate conduct litigation on behalf of the Public Guardian and provide legal advice across all elements of OPG on issues relating to the Public Guardian’s statutory functions under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The directorate also provide technical assistance to the organisation on GDPR and other information-related issues and deals with subject access and FOI requests. The directorate consists of approximately 100 staff, including 15 lawyers and around 70 legal support staff. 

Just some of the key responsibilities of this role include:

• Leading the Legal and Information Assurance directorate, and providing legal services to the Public Guardian and her staff
• Provision of such legal advice to the Public Guardian and her staff as is necessary to enable her to lawfully exercise her statutory duties
• Conduct of litigation on behalf of the Public Guardian in the Court of Protection (CoP) in connection with the discharge of the Public Guardian’s statutory functions (currently circa 2000 live cases before the CoP).
• Managing the relationship with the CoP on matters relating to the litigation process in the court.
• Ensuring delivery of an effective efficient and strategic litigation service, managing legal risk, providing value for money for client departments whilst ensuring full cost recovery.
• Acting as a member of the core senior leadership team at OPG, together with the two other Deputy Directors and the Public Guardian.
• Acting as a member of the OPG Executive Committee and the OPG Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, and as an attendee at OPG Board meetings.
• Leading the Information Assurance function within OPG to ensure compliance with statutory requirements in relation to data, and policy requirements of the MoJ in relation to information security.
• Acting as the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) for the OPG (and chairing the OPG SIRO Board), serving as a member on the MoJ Information, Risk and Security Board, and being accountable to the OPG Board and ARAC and the MoJ’s Head of Security on all matters of information security.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

To find out more about this interesting and exciting role, please view our candidate information pack where you will find further details around key responsibilities, person specification, and the criteria you will be assessed against during the recruitment process.

Please view page 9 of our candidate information pack where you will find the criteria you will be assessed against at application stage.

If you believe you have the experience and qualities we’re seeking, we look forward to hearing from you.

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

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above.
This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions.
Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and
conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your
personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any
absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you
to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk