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Overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a Higher Executive Officer (SEO) to join an exciting new cross-government programme, the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme.  This post will be part of a wide ranging, multi-disciplinary team responsible for transforming the use of data to drive outcomes and decision-making across government. 

The Ministry of Justice 

The Ministry of Justice is one of the largest government departments, employing around 76,000 people, with a budget of approximately £7.4 billion. The justice system is a vital public service that changes people’s lives and our work spans criminal, civil, administrative and family justice.  Each year millions of people across the UK use our services - including courts, tribunals, probation and prisons in England and Wales.  We are all likely to come into contact with the justice system at some point in our lives, either because we have been a witness to or victim of a crime, to protect and enforce our rights, or to settle disputes. 

Why work for the Ministry of Justice?

• Flexible working arrangements – including compressed hours, flexi-time, working from home or commuter hubs outside of London
• Broad and varied opportunities for development and promotion – there are lots of interesting and highly meaningful jobs across the Ministry and great opportunities to expand experience
• Data and Analysis is at the centre of the Department’s decision making – with a ministerial team who are keen for all decisions to be evidence driven
• See the frontline and what your work is influencing – regular opportunities to visit prisons and courts to better understand the areas your work and leadership is affecting 

About the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme

The BOLD programme is a cross-government initiative delivered in partnership between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), Office for Health improvement and Disparities (OHID) and Public Health Wales, meaning this role offers the opportunity to deliver impact across a broad range of public services. Public services collect a large amount of data which is used to improve the quality of services offered to the public, but it is often not shared between organisations, making it difficult to understand whether certain services have been effective. 

The BOLD Programme, backed by £20 million of investment from HM Treasury, will improve the connectedness of government data so that policy-makers and those working on the frontline of UK public services have better quality evidence on what works in supporting victims, reducing homelessness and substance misuse and helping offenders turn their backs on crime. For example, data on prisoners is not connected to data on people in employment, so it is not possible to know who went on to find a job after leaving custody. Understanding what services best help prison leavers into work could help to prevent thousands of people becoming victims each year and save some of the £18 billion annual cost of repeat crimes. 

The BOLD vision is to enable better evidenced, joined-up and more effective cross-govt. services to support and protect vulnerable adults at specific touchpoints in their interactions with government funded services, supported by timely linked data and evidence. 

The programme is ambitious and sits across 5 government departments. A flagship initiative for collaborative, cross-department working, BOLD intends to conduct data linkage on a scale never seen before in the UK government, aiming to link key datasets to aid policy makers in doing more evidence-based policy design and prioritisation, support management to make performance decisions to better meet needs across services and to provide more targeted support for individuals - driving better outcomes for vulnerable adults. 

Robust evaluation strategies underpin BOLD, aiming to promote the successful facets of the programme into future years of funding and share lessons learned across the rest of government. BOLD aims to help other data initiatives stride forward with the collaborative mindset of BOLD, so we can achieve success together. All BOLD team members are expected to share and implement best practices across the virtual teams they work within. 

Location & Salary

We welcome applications from candidates based across the UK. Candidates will have the option of being based in the Leeds or London HQ offices (with flexible working arrangements available) or your nearest Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or Justice Satellite Office (JSO). JCCs are based in Liverpool, Leeds, South Tyneside, Nottingham, Cardiff, Ipswich and Brighton. JSOs are based in Stafford, Sheffield and Manchester. Periodic travel may be required for collaboration with the wider programme team and the post holder will be working closely with a number of other government departments. 

Interviews are likely to take place in late June/early July. We will keep a merit list for a year for those who successfully pass the interview board but who are not offered a post immediately as it is highly likely that additional posts will become available during 2022. 

Key Responsibilities of the Roles

The successful candidate will play a critical role in delivering the BOLD programme. The post-holder sits within the Data Sharing Team, one of the most important workstreams of the BOLD programme, facilitating cross-government negotiations to share data between government departments that could unlock evidence and analysis previously unavailable, and drive the evidence base for effective public services. 

Additionally, the post-holder will support the development of new and innovative methods to transform the way in which data sharing is conducted across government and develop strategies and new methodologies for data interoperability. 

What you’ll do:

• Supporting the Head of Data Sharing to identify, scope, negotiate and deliver a range of data sharing agreements between BOLD’s partner departments
• Understanding the internal processes of data providing departments
• Deliver Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), Memorandum of Understanding / Data Sharing Agreements
• Line management responsibility for 1 x HEO Data Sharing Practitioner
• Representing BOLD in negotiations between partner departments, credibly selling the vision for how data sharing can unlock tangible outcomes for vulnerable service users
• Overcoming cultural reluctance to share data through sustained stakeholder engagement across a range of technical and non-technical teams to secure buy-in for BOLD’s data sharing ambitions
• Supporting a longer-term project to scope and develop a reusable and scalable data sharing framework that aggregates and integrates multiple data sharing agreements into a master framework agreement
• Working with other data colleagues across the business such as Data Scientists, Engineers, Analysts and Researchers across sites (including more senior members of these teams) to track, report on and unblock delivery
• Representing and upholding the BOLD strategy and vision, and the needs of this virtual team, at Management level with wider stakeholders (including Digital and Business representatives) and creating a strong community amongst this virtual team
• Acting as a translator across technical and non-technical areas to ensure effective problem definition and benefits realisation
• Sharing learning and best practice across government 

The ideal candidate:

• Has a track record in successfully negotiating data sharing agreements / memorandum of understanding to share data between public authorities
• Can influence a range of people without direct control or a managerial relationship outside of the BOLD programme
• Is a strong communicator who works collaboratively to build consensus in a fast-changing strategic and delivery environment
• Has a demonstrated track record of managing complex and diverse stakeholder relationships
• Has a demonstrated track record of creating and managing complex project plans
• Understands how to work in collaboration with others to achieve shared outcomes
• Understands the value of evidence & analysis in delivering public service outcomes – and therefore the importance of high-quality data
• Is comfortable changing their approach to respond to emerging issues and risks, while maintaining a strong focus on strategic goals
• Is already highly aware of digital ways of working or are willing to get up to speed quickly in understanding the potential (customer centricity, agile methodology, prototyping, automation, etc.)
• Understands and values public service users, and works hard to deliver quantified value for them
• Is a self-starter: someone who takes a vision and goals and makes them reality
• Has a track record in working with data and data systems. 

How to apply 

You’ll need to submit an anonymised CV and Statement of Suitability as part of your application. You will not be considered if you do not provide both.   

Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long and should show us your work history and previous experience. It should be well structured, succinct and written in clear language. Try to avoid just listing keywords as we are interested in how you have negotiated data sharing activities.  

Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 750 words and should give us examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider giving an example for each bullet point in ‘the ideal candidate’ section and use work you have completed to demonstrate how you meet each one.   

All these requirements are important for the job, however we do not expect candidates to be expert in all of them. Just give as much evidence as you can for each and make sure you cover ‘how’ you demonstrated the requirements and the impact of your work, as well as ‘what’ you did. Again, if you are interested in applying but are not sure you have all the skills listed, please do apply and give us the opportunity to consider you as a candidate. 

Selection process 

There will be an initial sift of applicants through comparing submitted evidence against ‘the ideal candidate’ bullets. This usually takes two weeks, depending on the number of applications.   

Those who make it through the initial sift will be invited to a Civil Service Success Profile interview. In the Civil Service we use Success Profiles to help us find the right person for the job. We will be using a mixture of methods to assess your abilities, experience, and behaviours. We highly recommend learning about Success Profiles and using the Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection (STARR) framework when structuring your answers.   

The highest scoring candidate that passes the interview will be offered the role. The whole process can take a month. Other candidates that pass the interview will be kept on a merit list for 12 months.   

Behaviour Details

You will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed below during the selection process. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour, Communicating & Influencing. These competencies are as specified in the Civil Service Behaviours document, available online at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf 

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact.
• Encourage the use of different communication methods, including digital resources and highlight the benefits, including ensuring cost effectiveness.
• Ensure communication has a clear purpose and takes into account people’s individual needs.
• Share information as appropriate and check understanding.
• Show positivity and enthusiasm towards work, encouraging others to do the same.
• Ensure that important messages are communicated with colleagues and stakeholders respectfully, taking into consideration the diversity of interests.

Seeing the Big Picture

• Understand the strategic drivers for your area of work.
• Align activities to contribute to wider organisational priorities.
• Remain alert to emerging issues and trends which might impact your work area.
• Seek out and share experiences to develop knowledge of the team’s business area. Understand how the strategies and activities of the team create value and meet the diverse needs of all stakeholders. 

Leadership

• Ensure colleagues and stakeholders have a clear understanding of objectives, activities and time-frames.
• Take into account different individual needs, views, and ideas, championing inclusion and equality of opportunity for all.
• Consider the impacts of own and team’s activities on stakeholders and end users.
• Role-model commitment and satisfaction with role.
• Recognise and praise the achievements of others to drive positivity within the team. Effectively manage conflict, misconduct and non-inclusive behaviour, raising with senior managers where appropriate.

Working Together

• Encourage joined up team work within own team and across other groups.
• Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders.
• Collaborate with these to share information, resources and support.
• Invest time to develop a common focus and genuine positive team spirit where colleagues feel valued and respect one another.
• Put in place support for the wellbeing of individuals within the team, including consideration of your own needs.
• Make it clear to all team members that bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable.
• Actively seek and consider input of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. 

Delivering at Pace

• Show a positive approach to keeping the whole team’s efforts focused on the top priorities. Promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation.
• Ensure the most appropriate resources are available for colleagues to use to do their job effectively.
• Regularly monitor your own and team’s work against milestones ensuring individual needs are considered when setting tasks.
• Act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance.
• Allow individuals the space and authority to meet objectives, providing additional support where necessary, whilst keeping overall responsibility.

Details Required In Your Application

To fully complete your online application, in addition to the Civil Service Behaviours application form, you must include an up to date CV (this should be a maximum of two sides of A4). Only applicants who submit this document will be considered for an invite to interview. Please remove all personal information and do not save the file with your name. 

Applicants Invited for Interview

At the interview you will be asked to give a five-minute verbal presentation on a data sharing activity you have delivered. Details of this will be sent to candidates before the interview.  

If you have any queries about the role or application process, please contact Carla Taylor (Data Sharing Lead) on carla.taylor1@justice.gov.uk or 07736 612851.