27673 - Secretariat Admin Staff

£22,232 - £23,835
3
12 Months
London
London
10 SOUTH COLONNADE LONDON, E14 4PU
AO
E
Permanent
Full Time
Administration / Corporate Support

About HMIP

HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) is an independent organisation, and an arms-length body of the Ministry of Justice, employing around 70 people in total. HMIP has a remit to inspect all prisons in England and Wales as well as other forms of detention, including immigration detention and court custody facilities. Inspections of police detention are carried out jointly with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Service and inspections of Secure Training Centres with Ofsted. The Chief Inspector of Prisons reports directly to the relevant Secretary of State on the treatment of and conditions for those detained in these types of custody. HMIP is a member of UK’s national preventive mechanism under the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.

HMIP Values

The established values of the Inspectorate are:

  • Independence, impartiality and integrity are the foundations of our work.
  • The experience of the detainee is at the heart of our inspections.
  • Respect for human rights underpins our Expectations.
  • We embrace diversity and are committed to pursuing equality of outcomes for all.
  • We believe in the capacity of both individuals and organisations to change and improve, and that we have a part to play in initiating and encouraging change.

HMIP Equality and Diversity Statement

We are committed to creating and maintaining a working environment that is positive about and supportive of all equality and diversity issues. We believe that difference and diversity within our workforce strengthens the work we do and the influence we have.

We are committed to becoming an employer of choice by creating an inclusive and supportive working environment where people are treated with dignity and respect and where discrimination and/or exclusion are not tolerated. Our goal is to ensure these commitments, reinforced by our values, are embedded in our day-to-day working practices.

Our long-term vision is to:

  • Have a workforce with the necessary expertise and sufficient diversity to reflect the community in which it operates;
  • Develop a more flexible and supportive working environment which always seeks to include difference;
  • Continue to build a confident and competent workforce who feel valued and heard;
  • Deliver learning and development opportunities to our staff so they are equipped to understand, inspect and make valid and relevant recommendations relating to equality and diversity.

We expect commitment and involvement from all our staff and partners in working towards the achievement of our vision and to that end we have developed an equality and diversity action plan.

Job Vacancies:

We are currently looking to fill 3 roles within our Secretariat Team.

You can confirm, in your application, whether you are applying for a particular post or would be content with appointment to any of the 3 roles available.

We will carefully consider your preferences, but might offer you an alternative if we believe it is the best fit with your skills and abilities.  

Inspection Support

Main duties and responsibilities:

  1. Providing administrative support for recruitment exercises
  2. Provide records and data management support to staff
  3. Provide support to maintain and update the Inspectorate’s shared electronic filing system
  4. Act as Secretary to the Police Programme Board, providing secretariat support as required
  5. Assist with Health & Safety (H&S) records management and act as Secretary to the H&S committee, providing secretariat support as required.
  6. Assist the HR manager on Development Days and Learning & Development (L&D) activities.
  7. Provide initial responses to FOI (Freedom of Information) requests received.
  8. Book accommodation and travel including car hire for the Inspectorate when required

In addition, when required you could be required to assist with the following:

  • Hotel and travel bookings
  • Stationery and IT orders
  • Payments to Fee Paid Associates
  • Booking meeting rooms
  • Taking minutes in key meetings
  • Support to NPM/Policy Teams

Experience

You will have:

  • Excellent communications skills (written and verbal).
  • Effective team working.
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel

Inspection Support

Main duties and responsibilities:

  1. Answering telephone calls to the general enquiries line and taking appropriate action
  2. Maintaining the correspondence tracker to record details of each item of correspondence and all relevant telephone calls received
  3. Ordering goods and services, maintaining supplier data, and managing the claims of fee-paid Associates
  4. Providing finance support to Finance Inspection Support Manager
  5. Providing administrative support for recruitment exercises – ordering IT accounts and kit/ID Cards and other items required
  6. Drafting replies to correspondence from prisoners and others for the Chief Inspector in the absence of the Policy and Secretariat Officer
  7. Maintain logs of IT assets held by staff
  8. Be central point of contact for building and IT issues, keeping staff updated as required.

In addition, when required you could be required to assist with the following:

  • Hotel and travel bookings
  • Stationery and IT orders
  • Assist with recruitment campaigns
  • Booking meeting rooms
  • Taking minutes in key meetings
  • Support to NPM/Policy Teams

Experience

You will have:

  • Excellent communications skills (written and verbal).
  • Effective team working.
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel

Admin Support Officer to the Deputy Chief Inspector

Main duties and responsibilities:

  1. Manage Deputy Chief Inspector’s diary, including internal MOJ, other Government Departments and external stakeholders
  2. Copy typing – letters, bilateral notes, email messages the on behalf of the Deputy Chief Inspector and manage the DCI’s filing system.
  3. Arrange Deputy Chief Inspector’s travel and for Inspections Teams – including car hire, hotels, flights
  4. Act as secretary to the Delivery Board and provide secretariat support to the board
  5. Act as secretary to the equality and diversity committee and provide secretariat support to the committee
  6. Update the Inspection programme and allocations table as necessary and distribute as directed
  7. Produce the announced inspection programme and distribute to stakeholders quarterly, including creating IRP letters and sending inspection announcements
  8. Monitor enquiries received from the Inspectorate’s general mailbox. Respond or distribute as necessary
  9. Cover for Chief Inspector’s personal assistant post, and provide regular assistance, as required

In addition, when required you could be required to assist with the following:

  • Take Minutes in key meetings
  • Assist secretariat with development days
  • Provide support to the secretariat as required, with hotel, travel and meeting bookings

Experience

You will have:

  • Excellent organisational/prioritisation skills and the ability to work to and manage conflicting deadlines
  • Experience of minute taking and administration of meetings.
  • Effective team working and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with colleagues within and outside the Inspectorate
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
  • Energy and enthusiasm, and the capacity to adapt to new situations and work flexibly

Application and selection process

The selection process will focus on assessing against the competencies listed below for the posts. All candidates need to complete the online application form. We do not accept CVs.

Competencies

The application form will ask you to demonstrate how you meet the following competencies. For further information on the Civil Service competencies, please go to: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/a-brief-guide-to-competencies

-       Delivering at Pace

-       Managing a Quality Service

-       Making Effective Decisions

-       Collaborating and Partnering

Interviews will focus on the criteria for the post as set out above.

Candidates should also note that, if selected for the post, the security clearance process can take approximately 12 weeks, A start date will not be formally agreed before clearance has been confirmed by MoJ.

Existing Civil Servants

Existing Civil Servants are welcome to apply for this post but they should note the following:

  • You will be subject to the same selection process as all other applicants.
  • As you will already have completed your probationary period you will not have to serve a further period of probation.
  • If you are not currently employed in the same grade as the post for which you are applying, you must meet the qualifying criteria for that grade.
  • Your personnel file may be requested from your employing department should you be offered an interview, whether or not you give permission for your current employer to be contacted.
The job holder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

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.

Expected 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 20th and 21st of August 2019

22/07/2019, 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 - 27673.
Please note the successful applicant will need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Security Check for this post.

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.

Candidate Information

You may be required to provide statements describing your skills and experience relevant to each of the selection criteria. We recommend that you structure any examples as Situation, Task, Action and Result. For more information about the recruitment process 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

In the event of a large number of applications, we reserve the right to undertake the following processes:


  • An automated online test where a benchmark must be passed to progress;
  • A sift on the lead selection criteria. If this happens, the lead criteria will be the first one listed in the advert.

During the selection process, you may be asked to undertake an additional assessment (such as written test). If this is applicable you will be notified of this when you are invited to interview.



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
Delivering at Pace
Managing a Quality Service
Making Effective Decisions
Collaborating and Partnering

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

Interview stage assessments

There is 1 interview stage for this vacancy.

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.