Deputy Head of Ministerial Contact Unit - London, United Kingdom - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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:

- £54,328 - £61,392- £54,328 - £61,392. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading 'Salary'.
  • A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
    Job grade:
  • Grade 7
    Contract type:
  • Permanent
    Business area:
  • DEFRA
  • Strategy
  • Strategy
    Type of role:
  • Operational Delivery
    Working pattern:
  • Fulltime
    Number of jobs available:
  • 1Contents
Location

About the job


Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

  • LondonAbout the job

Job summary:


The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK Government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy.

Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day lives, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.


  • Strategy
Directorate_

Strategy is a fast-paced, dynamic, and challenging environment.

Our purpose is to give a high quality and timely service to Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, and to ensure that Defra group is able to achieve the strategic objectives we set out in our Business Plan.


We work in support of Defra's strategic objectives, look at how we can join up with other initiatives across the organisation to get things done, support each other to deliver excellent work, help Defra to make good decisions and we identify and unblock barriers to change.


  • Encouraging diverse applicants_
This role will be based at the London Defra office.

We value flexible working, the ability to work at home on an adhoc basis will be available to be considered.


Job description:


  • This is a high profile role, directly supporting Ministers and the department with engagement with Parliament, stakeholders & citizens. You will support the head of unit lead a large operational team of 60 people and oversee a budget of £2.4 million to deliver challenging performance targets, for which the Department is accountable to Parliament.
  • Overall operational responsibility & team leadership of the delivery of various Ministerial support functions including correspondence and parliamentary questions, supporting and coaching teams to drive performance and efficiency.
  • Driving efforts on continuous improvement to ensure the unit is frontfooted to meet future political, organisational and societal challenges (for example around digital & cultural transformation and Artificial Intelligence).
  • Using data to monitor and improve performance on correspondence, PQs, and other key metrics.
  • Developing and maintaining strong relationships with Ministers' offices and senior policy officials in order to anticipate and respond effectively to major events, manage reputational risks, and overcome obstacles to the delivery of our business.
  • Acting as part of the Private Office Senior Management Team Director's Senior Management Team to set the direction for the Strategy Directorate and playing a strong role in Defra's transformation agenda by ensuring that Defra's future customer contact work reflects Ministers' needs.
  • This includes managing work on demand management, digitisation and coordination, and that our telephone helpline service meets the needs of our customers, safeguards against reputational risks and delivers savings.
  • Ensuring that staff in the unit have the right skills and capability by delivering a learning and development culture to drive high quality outcomes and contribute to the vision of a Brilliant Civil Service.
  • Providing a challenge function to drive up performance; presenting clear data analysis which is tailored for the target audience (i.e. drafters, team leaders, private secretaries, directors and Ministers) to demonstrate where the issues are and make recommendations for improvement.
  • Promote the work of the department and play an active part in supporting the Civil Service values and culture.
  • Potential to lead specific projects on strategic priorities across the wider corporate centre group beyond immediate responsibilities.

Person specification:


Responsibilities

  • Experience of using quantitative management information to design and target interventions would be useful.
  • Engagement with stakeholders, shaping and influencing their thinking and approach engage with business stakeholders to understand current and future business strategy and drivers and shape their thinking in terms of how technology can deliver benefits.
  • Line management experience, including performance management.
  • Engagement with technology partners and suppliers to understand the future technology landscape and opportunities for innovation.
  • Complex problem solving, including an ability to know when and how to effectively escalate an issue to ensure timely and appropriate resolution
  • Demonstration of strong customer/Ministerial
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