Senior Policy Advisor - Newcastle upon Tyne, 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
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Tom O´Connor

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter
Description

Details:


Reference number:


Salary:

- £39,439 - £47,039
  • National: £39,439 £43,569, London: £42,577 £47,039. 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:
  • Senior Executive Officer
    Contract type:
  • Permanent
    Business area:
  • DEFRA
  • Environment
  • Water & Flood Management
    Type of role:
  • Policy
    Working pattern:
  • Flexible working, Fulltime, Job share, Parttime
    Number of jobs available:
  • 1Contents
Location

About the job


Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

  • Bristol, London, NewcastleuponTyne, YorkAbout the job

Job summary:

As our Senior Policy official, you will contribute towards the management and delivery of a wide-ranging portfolio, including the core government relationship with navigation authorities such as the Canal & River Trust (the largest navigation authority in England and Wales, managing c. 2,000 miles of waterways) and access on waterways. This is an exciting policy area, which overlaps with many other cross-Whitehall responsibilities. You will be part of a small close knit team, working closely with key stakeholders to deliver government priorities.

A key focus will be to ensure grant funding provided to the Canal & River Trust (currently worth £52.6m per year) is used effectively to deliver key outcomes and achieve value for money.

The role intersects with a wide range of government priorities including climate adaptation, access to the outdoors, and maintenance of historic and cultural assets.


The role sits within the Floods & Water Directorate (part of the Environment Group), with opportunities for collaborative and supportive working across different topics.

The team is friendly, supportive and energetic; recent new starters in the wider team have felt welcome and at home straight away.

You will use your strong people skills, strategic thinking, and rigorous focus on evidence to build strong relationships with your team and with external and x-Whitehall stakeholders, make the case for Defra's priorities, and drive your policy area forward.


Job description:


You will have the opportunity to lead on some elements of the following, and support on other areas of the team's work, depending on your experience and skill set and the team's business needs.


This may include (but not limited to):

  • Supporting the administration of £52.6m annual grant funding to the Canal and River Trust (C&RT) in line with Cabinet Office Functional Standards, HMT guidance, and departmental standards
  • You will also contribute towards securing final agreements required for the new grant funding package beginning in 2027; key to this is a set of KPIs which meet financial, commercial and legal constraints while delivering against core priorities. This will require close working with financial, commercial and legal experts as well as with HMT and Cabinet Office and of course with the C&RT themselves


You'll line manage one HEO within a branch with an Agile approach to resource - supporting quarterly planning to identify key requirements across the branch and supporting other teams / being supported as required.

There will also be opportunities to participate in horizon scanning/scenario planning.

You will support senior leadership in developing forward looking plans for the Policy area as a whole and understanding where Inland waterways sits in 'Future DEFRA'.


Person specification:


  • You will be working closely with policy teams across the department, as well as analysts, lawyers, and external stakeholders to understand and assess the impact of these options
  • You will have excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to analyse large and complex volumes of data/information to provide succinct, high quality recommendations
  • You will work closely with economic, commercial and financial experts, distilling their advice and factoring in wider strategic issues, in order to communicate issues clearly to seniors and Ministers
  • You will have effective relationship building skills, with the ability to influence others, establish positive connections with stakeholders and communicate with confidence to a wide range of senior audiences across the sector.

Essential criteria:

  • Ability to understand data and represent clearly and concisely to a range of audiences
  • Comfortable working as part of a multidisciplinary team
  • Ability to be adaptive and organised in a fast paced environment, maintaining sight of broader priorities whilst delivering outcomes to strict deadlines
  • Utilise effective project/product management skills to drive robust delivery
  • Ability to confidently lead on work strands independently, identifying emerging issues and priorities

Behaviours:

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Seein
More jobs from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
See all jobs of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs