Policy Unit - London, United Kingdom - Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Verified Company
London, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Tom O´Connor

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Tom O´Connor

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Description

Details:


Reference number:


Salary:

- £59,774 - £69,676
Job grade:


  • Grade 6
  • A(u)
    Contract type:
  • Permanent
    Business area:
  • DCMS
  • Corporate Strategy
    Type of role:
  • Other
    Working pattern:
  • Flexible working, Fulltime, Job share
    Number of jobs available:
  • 1Contents
Location

About the job


Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

  • LondonAbout the job

Job summary:

The Strategy and Policy Unit sits at the core of the department.

Our purpose is to provide Ministers, OGDs and the Department with high quality advice and delivery support, so that decisions across DCMS are made in a more coordinated and strategic way.


The Strategy and Policy Unit:

  • Provides the Secretary of State with personal advice and support in taking forward her priorities
  • Supports the Department in making strategic prioritisation decisions, across legislation and finance
  • Coordinates and connects
- helping DCMS be more than the sum of its parts and punch above its weight in Whitehall, be that on its own exciting agendas, or supporting others such as levelling up and the Union

  • Builds policy teams' capability, particularly in fiscal event negotiation, devolution, strategic planning, equalities and sustainability compliance

Within this context, we are looking for an experienced civil servant to be one of four AU team leaders, with particular responsibility for liaison with the Secretary of State and personal leadership of priority projects.

Job description:


This role is one of four AUs in the team, who collectively provide leadership and drive to ensure the Strategy and Policy Unit is effective and delivering for DCMS and Ministers.


This role is focussed on ensuring that the Strategy and Policy Unit is well connected to the Secretary of State personally, integrating with her Private Office and pushing forward her priorities.


You will be the key link point between SPU and the Secretary of State and private office, making sure SoS's priorities are well understood and placed within DCMS's planning and activities.

Alongside the Strategy Director and Perm Sec you will have a key role in building relationships between Secretary of State, Ministers and Senior officials.


You will primarily be responsible for:

  • Work closely with private office and SCS leaders across DCMS to help strengthen the linkage between the Secretary of State and the Department
  • Provide the Secretary of State personally with advice on how to prioritise and shape her delivery priorities to achieve the biggest and most rapid possible impact in Whitehall
  • Drive forward specific projects that are top SoS or PM priorities. This may be through direct delivery of policy development by you or a small number of reports, or via coordination of wider departmental teams
  • Maintain a collaborative, Civil Service values led team that is as valued by the Department as it is by Ministers engaging directly with senior officials and ministers.
  • Being confident about flexing to new priorities the wider team is at the forefront of politically driven changes like reshuffles and fiscal events and there is the chance to gain experience of work in these contexts.
  • Building relationships within DCMS, with its public bodies, across whitehall, and with a broad range of stakeholders;
  • Demonstrating strategic thinking; able to recognise opportunities and risks across a wide range of policy areas even where you are not the expert;
  • Solving problems: being proactive in identifying potential barriers or risks and creative about finding solutions;
  • Handling detail comfortably, but also identifying the bigger picture to help teams navigate through political complexity
  • Being ambitious for DCMS and the citizens we deserve including being comfortable as a 'critical friend' and engaging directly with senior officials and ministers.
  • Being confident about flexing to new priorities the wider team is at the forefront of politically driven changes like reshuffles and fiscal events and there is the chance to gain experience of work in these contexts.

Person specification:

Essential Criteria

  • A critical thinker able to come up with solutions to complex policy problems that are politically salient and reflective of the bigger picture, but also credible and deliverable. Experience developing policy is required.
  • A collaborator: with a track record of influencing and negotiating across departmental boundaries.
  • A confident and clear communicator: able to understand and advise Ministers, and build credibility and trust with senior stakeholders, including the Secretary of State
  • A leader: someone who puts civil service values and teamwork ahead of themselves
Desirable Skills

  • Data fluency: an ability to find, interrogate, interpret and communicate data from sites like the ONS on new and familiar topics
  • Previous Private Office experience, or similar Ministerial exposure

Behaviours:

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