28977 - C/HEO Policy Officers – Vulnerable Offenders Policy

£30,845 - £38,373
6
12 Months
London
London
102 PETTY FRANCE (MOJ) LONDON, SW1H 9AJ
HEO
C
Permanent
Full Time, Flexible Working
Policy

Overview 

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Vulnerable Offenders team is recruiting 2 Band C policy officers, one to work on offender health and another to work on the criminal justice elements of the Mental Health Act.

The remit of the Offender Health policy team covers a range of topics, including mental health, substance misuse and physical health. The team works in close partnership with HMPPS, the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care and others in order to deliver critical Ministerial priorities. The job holder will have an opportunity to work on and learn about a variety of offender health areas, and will be expected to play a flexible role in the team to support delivery across the workstreams according to the priorities of the department. We are looking for a Band C to join our dynamic team and support us develop and deliver innovative and cross-cutting policy in one of MoJ’s highest profile areas. It is an exciting role that will offer opportunities to work in partnership with frontline staff, analysts and other policy professionals and engage with colleagues from other government departments.

The Vulnerable Offenders team is also co-ordinating the criminal justice elements of the Mental Health Act.  The independent Mental Health Act review set out wide-ranging proposals to modernise this Act which cover those with severe mental illness. MOJ is working jointly with the Department of Health and Social Care to develop Government’s response to the review, which is due to be published as a White Paper later this year. The review makes proposals affecting many areas of civil and criminal justice policy, and the Vulnerable Offenders Division lead on the coordination of this work within MOJ and our agencies. We anticipate one of the posts playing a central role in bringing together Government’s response, engaging partners in and outside of government and exploring complex policy and operational issues.

Both of these posts offer an excellent opportunity for high performing policy professionals to be at the centre of one of the department’s most interesting and challenging work areas. These are high-profile and fast-paced policy areas with a great deal of public, Parliamentary and Ministerial interest. Successful candidates will be able to command the confidence of colleagues and stakeholders and have an outstanding track record in contributing to policy development, written and oral briefs and working collaboratively with others in a team.

Job Description

Duties may include:

  • Helping to develop evidence-based policy and provide research and written input into areas such as health commissioning in prisons and the community, substance misuse policy, mental health policy, physical health policy and other areas related to offender health.
  • Building good working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders - particularly NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England, HMPPS and the Third Sector – to support the effective implementation of policy, both in custody and the community.
  • Being familiar with the internal and external governance and project management arrangements for key projects, including attending meetings and/or Boards on behalf of the team, developing papers, co-ordinating and supporting effective project management and otherwise feeding in as appropriate.
  • Communicating regularly with senior leaders, external stakeholders or user groups – presenting ideas and gathering feedback to help develop policy work.
  • Supporting the team to brief Ministers, including working closely with colleagues to meet tight ministerial deadlines and requests.
  • Input to short term problem-solving on urgent issues.
  • Assisting in drafting briefing, PQs, correspondence, submissions and similar pieces of work.
  • In this busy team, you will be expected to sometimes stretch yourself beyond your grade, including taking the lead on some policy areas and delivering pieces of work from start to finish.

In addition to meeting the required strengths and behaviours it is expected that successful applicants will have:

  • Excellent written skills and numerical skills, with experience in using data to inform your work.
  • Ability to make sound judgments and provide well-articulated advice
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  • The confidence and skills to act independently
  • Excellent IT skills

Further to this it would be desirable, but not essential, for the post holder to:

  • Be qualified to graduate level or have related work experience
  • Experience with using Project Management approaches
  • Have an understanding of the justice system
  • Have an understanding of the governmental and parliamentary processes.

Behaviours

You will be required to provide evidence of the following key Behaviours at Level 3.

  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Seeing the Bigger Picture
  • Delivering at Pace

Further information about each behaviour can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

In the event of receiving a high number of applications we will sift initially on the Communicating and Influencing competency. Applicants who are successful at the sift stage will be invited to interview where they may also be required to complete a written exercise. At this stage there will be an opportunity to discuss which of the two posts available you may be most suited to.

If you would like to find out more about the roles, please contact Victoria.scrope@jutsice.gov.uk or lizzie.renard@justice.gov.uk. Roles are available to applicants already at the substantive grade and on promotion.

Please be aware, if successful and you are not currently a Civil Servant, the Ministry of Justice does not negotiate pay, you are expected to start at the minimum pay scale.

Working Arrangements & Further Information

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Generous allowances for paid holiday starting at 25 days per year, and rising as your service increases. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Support

  • A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
  • Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits,retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
  • For any moves across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers
  • Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
  • Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.

There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We anticipate interviews to take place in early - mid October 2019.

23/09/2019, 23:55 hours.

If you require any assistance please call 0845 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk Please quote the job reference - 28977.

If you have any queries about the role itself please contact victoria.scrope@justice.gov.uk or lizzie.renard@justice.gov.uk

To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why. 

For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).

If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:

  • You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
  • You were studying abroad
  • You were living overseas with parents

In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.

Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.

if you feel that your application has not been treated in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance

We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.


Application form stage assessments

Behaviours
Communicating and Influencing - word limit
Making Effective Decisions - word limit
Seeing the Big Picture - word limit
Delivering at Pace - word limit

Interview stage assessments

There is 1 interview stage for this vacancy.
Behaviours
Communicating and Influencing
Making Effective Decisions
Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace
Strengths may also be assessed at interview but these are not shared in advance.
Additional Assessment(s)
Written Exercise

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

· UK nationals

· nationals of the Republic of Ireland

· nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

· individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

· Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

This Vacancy is closed to applications.