23078 - Head of Governance

Organisational context

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), created in April 2013.

The primary purpose of the Agency, comprising approximately 1200 staff, is to deliver an efficient and effective legal aid system in collaboration with the rest of the justice system. We are tasked with the sound stewardship of a very large sum of public money (around £1.5bn) to carry out this duty.

The Corporate Centre operates at the heart of the LAA, delivering its core functions, including the office of the Chief Executive, external and internal communications, people and engagement, planning and performance, continuous improvement, governance, data and MI.

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the centre of the organisation, working closely with senior leaders throughout the agency and department. We are looking for an enthusiastic person with strong leadership skills who is committed and takes pride in the work that they do.

As Head of Governance you will be responsible for leading the corporate governance and assurance functions that are essential to the effective running of the organisation. You will lead a team of experts, as well as having relevant knowledge and experience yourself. You will be able to demonstrate great leadership skills.

This role sits at the heart of the organisation, working with our Executive Leadership Team, the Senior Information Risk Owner and Board. You must therefore be able to build effective working relationships, and be able to influence and reassure the CEO and his team. You will enjoy using your strategic thinking skills to think broadly about issues affecting the business, anticipating future needs. You will be expected to provide sound advice to the Chief Executive on a range of governance issues.

You will report to a Deputy Director who has a large breadth of responsibilities. You will therefore need to have sound judgement, and be confident using your judgement to operate independently at times with minimal oversight. You will be a highly motivated self-starter with a can-do attitude.

The Head of Governance is also a member of the Corporate Centre Senior Management Team. SMT members take an active interest in the corporate life of the directorate, leading on small projects and contributing to the wider leadership of the directorate. This could also involve taking on greater responsibilities for other functions within the corporate centre family in future, if appropriate and dependent on the skills of the successful applicant.

Key Duties and responsibilities

As Head of Governance you will be responsible for the management of a number of governance functions within the LAA. 

• You will be responsible for oversight of the Secretariat and Governance Team.  The team’s work includes:

• Provision of secretariat support to the Executive Leadership Team, LAA Board and LAA Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee, including annual Board effectiveness reviews.
• Responsibility for the maintenance of the LAA’s key governance documents, including the Board Operating Framework.
• Working with the Ministry of Justice to agree any other necessary changes or updates to the LAA’s Framework Agreement, as required.
• Oversight and support to the Non-Executive Board Members.
• Fulfilling the governance requirements in relation to the Annual Report and Accounts, as well as support with the publication of the annual Director of Legal Aid Casework report.
• Management of the agency’s compliance with its Welsh Language obligations, including annual reporting to the Welsh Language Commissioner.
• Leading the LAA’s Health and Safety and Business Continuity functions.

• You will provide leadership and direction to the LAA’s Information Governance and Security Team. The team are responsible for:

• Coordinating and responding to the LAA’s Freedom of Information Requests, Parliamentary Questions and Data Protection Act Requests, including Subject Access Requests. Ensuring all KPI targets are met in relation to these.
• Managing the Agency’s relationships with the Information Commissioners Office and liaising with the Ministry of Justice’s Disclosure Team, press and private offices.
• Providing specialist advice on issues pertaining to Data Protection and Data Assurance matters, acting as subject matter experts across the business.
• Leading work to maintain, assure and enhance organisational compliance and risk management across Data Protection and Data Assurance.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

• Excellent organisational skills.
• Confidence in decision-making, exercising sound judgement, and the ability to challenge others in a constructive manner appropriate to the situation;
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of successful internal and external relationship management;
• Excellent written and oral skills
• Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to understand and present information and data from a wide range of sources in a succinct manner.
• Experience of leadership, either directly leading a team or showing leadership qualities in other contexts.

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of working in a similar role will be an asset, but is not essential. An understanding of good governance in practice will be a significant advantage.
• Knowledge of the legal aid landscape or wider justice environment will be an advantage.

Assessment approach

Please provide evidence against the following five key competencies as part of your application.

Seeing the Big Picture

• Anticipate economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to keep activity relevant and targeted.
• identify implications of Departmental and political priorities and strategy on own area to ensure plans and activities reflect these.
• Bring together views and perspectives of stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding activities and policies. 
  

Making Effective Decisions

• Push decision making to the right level within their teams, not allow unnecessary bureaucracy and structure to suppress innovation and delivery.
• Analyse and evaluate pros and cons and identify risks in order to make decisions that take account of the wider context, including diversity and sustainability.
• Draw together and present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data - able to act or decide even when details are not clear.

Leading and Communicating

• Confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels to generate commitment to goals.
• Clarifies strategies and plans, giving clear sense of direction and purpose for self and team.
• Stand by, promote or defend own team's actions and decisions when needed.

Collaborating and Partnering

• Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on objectives and shared interests.
• Effectively manage team dynamics when working across Departmental and other boundaries

Delivering at Pace

• Act as a role model in supporting and energising teams to build confidence in their ability to deliver outcomes.
• Maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, encouraging others to do the same.
• Review, challenge and adjust performance levels to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time, rewarding success.

The sift is anticipated to take place on w/c 31 December. Following that, strengths-based interviews are expected to take place in the week commencing w/c 14 January.

Our LAA commitment

The LAA is committed to diversity and inclusion and we positively promote flexible working, including job shares.

We will consider all applications on merit regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, religion, ethnicity, preferred working pattern and except for exceptional circumstances your working location.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. Under the Equality Act 2010 a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.

If you are responding to a role within the Legal Aid Agency and would like to be considered under the guaranteed interview please ensure that you attach the Guaranteed Interview Form when you return your application. You can use the same form to let the recruiting manager know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the sift or later selection processes.

Closing Date: 28th December 2018 at 23:55

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 23078.