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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 of choice and ensuring equity of opportunity for all. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring in terms of their culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.
Purpose
This role will have a high level of autonomy and be fully accountable for ensuring the production of high-level briefings, parliamentary material, correspondence and other strategic advice and recommendations. The role will ensure that information is risk assessed, timely, clear, relevant and comprehensive. The environment is demanding and dynamic and the role will often work in ambiguity with a quick turnover expected to meet deadlines.
The job holder role will have a key and leading role in building and sustaining relationships and will work closely and collaboratively with stakeholders. They will contribute to strategic discussions and forums with colleagues at all levels from across the MoJ and its agencies, to address and to meet demands and expectations and influence senior leaders including Permanent Secretary, 2nd Permanent Secretary, Director Generals and Directors.
This role provides an opportunity to be involved with a wide range of policies, issues and projects
Responsibilities
The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:
• Provide high quality and politically astute and accurate briefings. This may include sensitive and complex issues, Accounting Officer advice draft responses, updates to senior leaders, parliamentary question responses, core briefings and response to Q&As, alongside draft/reviews of business cases and submissions to facilitate decision making based on possession of all relevant facts often within tight timeframes.
• Summarise briefings highlighting concerns, issues, non-compliance and provide recommendations to enable effective decision. Use sound judgement to assess the potential impact on complex, crucial, controversial or ambiguous issues and ensuring this is emphasised. Where relevant, contributions from others are sought and incorporated.
• Contribute towards a system that ensures that requests, actions and correspondence received from private offices and directors’ teams are dealt with promptly with input from all relevant internal stakeholders.
• Engage with senior colleagues to establish clear and strategic understanding of emerging policy, projects and programmes.
• Work collaboratively with key stakeholders from across the Ministry of Justice and in other Government Departments to ensure a network exists through which the timely and accurate co-ordination of, and response to major issues can be canvassed
• Provide briefings and recommendations in person where required.
• Preparing a regular strategic update advising of forthcoming issues and events using current knowledge and the organisational delivery plan
• Providing regular updates on progress and emerging issues.
• As a new role there is opportunity to help shape the future direction.
• There is potential for line management responsibilities in the future
• Providing general advice to colleagues about different drafting skills, and parliamentary procedural issues, as a corporate objective
Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours
Behaviours
• Seeing the bigger picture
• Working together
• Delivering at pace
• Communicating and Influencing
Knowledge and Skills
• Excellent briefing and analytical skills
• Strong written communication skills
• The intellectual ability to provide well-researched and balanced advice on sensitive and complex issues within tight timeframes.
• Ability to work with ambiguity and use own initiative, have sound judgement in a complex and politically sensitive environment
• The ability to assess the critical nature of contentious issues and where appropriate bring these to the attention of senior stakeholders, having formulated and considered several options for resolution.
• Significant influencing negotiating skills with the aptitude to develop relationships to ensure coordinated, accurate and timely advice in non-negotiable timeframes
• Manage extensive internal networks of strong collaborative working relationships at a senior level to ensure effective communication and feedback on performance issues
• Provide expert advice and contribute and influence decision making, identify emerging issues/risks and their implications and propose solutions
• The ability to forward think with excellent organisational skills ensuring the capability to prioritise and reflect changing priorities as required
• Has a high level of autonomy and has considerable discretion over the day to day operations and organisation of their work, with minimum supervision to achieve business objectives and performance criteria, within approved work and project plans
Experience
• It is essential that the successful applicant has experience in a strategy or policy role.
• Experience of working in a financial policy role would be beneficial
The role holder must have sufficient experience to have gained the necessary skills outlined above to a level that enables confident, effective, autonomous working at a Grade 7 level.
Professional Competencies / Requirements
• A finance qualification is desirable but not essential
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