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.
Location
National, with national travel essential
Salary
The salary for this role is set within the MoJ SEO pay range
Full/Part Time
This role is being offered on a full-time basis (flexible working arrangements considered)
Contract Type
This is a permanent role
About Independent Monitoring Boards
Members of Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) are unpaid public appointees (volunteers) who monitor places of detention. There are around 1200 IMB members, organised into 127 Boards monitoring prisons and places of immigration detention, each with its own Chair. They are appointed by ministers and operate in prisons and Young Offender Institutions (run by HM Prison and Probation Service - MoJ), in Immigration Removal Centres, various Short-Term Holding Facilities and on repatriation flights for those being removed from the UK (run by the Home Office).
As independent scrutiny bodies, IMBs have a growing public profile and play an increasingly crucial role in providing assurance to ministers and the public on the conditions and treatment of those held in detention. They are members of the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism, under the UK’s international human rights obligations to prevent torture and other ill-treatment of people in detention. They work closely with HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, who also play a key part in the oversight and assurance of places of detention. The findings of IMBs are fed into the performance and scrutiny information used by government to contribute to prisons and immigration detention policy and process changes, in line with the government’s commitment to ensuring safe, humane and effective places of detention.
About the role
Six new roles have been created to strengthen the support provided to the Regional Representatives in both the prisons and immigration detention estate. This role is the Support Lead for West Midlands, South West and South Central prison regions. Regional Representatives are experienced IMB members who provide advice and support to Chairs and Boards in their region to help them fulfil their statutory responsibilities. The Regional Representatives report to the National Chair of the IMBs.
The Support Lead roles will be part of the IMB Secretariat, which provides support to the Chair, Management Board and membership. They will be line managed by a member of the senior management team and tasked with the specific role of providing dedicated, targeted and effective support to Boards in their region, working with and through the Regional Representatives, to assist them to drive improvements in the conditions and treatment of those in prisons.
You will be a motivated, enthusiastic individual committed to providing an exceptionally high level of support to volunteers in a fast-paced environment. You must also be prepared to travel. You will need to visit multiple prisons across a large geographical area including some rural settings.
Proposed changes to the organisational structure and governance, along with the increasing profile of the IMBs, make this an exciting time to join the organisation.
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our teams and welcome applications from less represented groups.
Key Responsibilities
The postholder will work with the Secretariat lead to provide dedicated support to the Regional Representatives and to Board Chairs in their regions. Key responsibilities will link directly to those of the Regional Representatives and will include, but may not be limited to:
- building a strong and supportive working relationship with Regional Representatives and Chairs through regular engagement. An essential part of the role will include meeting with the Regional Representatives on a regular basis and undertaking regular visits to Boards across the region.
- supporting the Regional Representatives in arranging the quarterly meetings of all Chairs, taking minutes and progressing the action points following the meetings
- working with the Secretariat, Board Chairs and Regional Representatives to help identify and meet current and future capacity needs
- conducting outreach work to raise the profile of the Independent Monitoring Boards and to promote recruitment campaigns to ensure that they are well advertised and reach a wide and diverse group of potential candidates
- influencing prison policy and practice, by feeding the findings of the Boards into the Secretariat policy team, and National Chair, including on thematic priority issues, and helping to keep boards up to date on policy changes to help inform their monitoring
- helping Boards to develop effective and workable reporting processes, including annual and regular reports
- ensuring nationally agreed IMB policies and procedures, including statutory responsibilities, are communicated to Chairs and Boards, and providing advice and support on their implementation
- providing advice and support to the Regional Representative and where required to Board Chairs on any personnel issues.
Skills
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following skills.
Essential criteria
- Strong relationship management skills, and a proven ability to work effectively with individuals and groups on a range of issues to help them fulfil their statutory and other obligations.
- Well-developed communication skills with the ability to adapt communication styles to meet the needs of different audiences both internally and externally.
- Strong leadership skills and ability to motivate and support both staff and members through periods of change and challenging circumstances.
- Effective problem-solving skills, ability to analyse, interpret and collate data.
- A proven track record of delivering projects on time.
- Experience or understanding of working with public appointees/volunteers.
- Understanding of the prison context.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working on or managing recruitment campaigns, particularly for public appointees.
- Knowledge and understanding of the IMB.
Civil Service Behaviours
You will be required to provide evidence of the following competencies:
- Seeing the big picture
- Making effective decisions
- Leadership
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working together
Further information about the Civil Service Competency Framework can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework
Location
The postholder will be expected to work across a number of regions in the UK (West Midlands, South West and South Central), working with Regional Representatives and Chairs. This is a wide geographical spread with some prisons in rural areas of the country that are not well served by public transport.
The postholder will be based in one of the regions they will have responsibility for but will need to be able to visit the prisons in all their allocated regions. The attached map shows the configuration of the regions and the approximate location of the prisons within them; however, applicants are encouraged to see where the prisons are actually situated.
There are currently 30 prisons in the West Midlands, South West and South Central regions, though the prisons and Boards will vary in size and complexity.
All postholders will be allocated to an MoJ office base, though they are likely to work from home or be travelling for a lot of the time. This location will be used as the base from which all travel and subsistence expenses will be calculated.
We will look to allocate the postholders to the MoJ office base closest to their home location.
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