About the job

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join the high profile and fast paced Arts & Libraries team. 

The team’s mission is to engage and support our world-leading arts and culture sector in order to increase the personal, economic and social benefits of culture at a local and national level through effective public investment and policy making. 

The team is currently focused on developing policy proposals on capital funding for the sector, youth and skills, overseeing and supporting the delivery of several new cultural projects around the country, drafting a Cultural Education Plan with the Department for Education, and sponsorship of Arts Council England.

This role will include work across several live policy areas of interest to ministers and will include a mix of early policy development, ongoing oversight and development of inflight programmes and cross team working to ensure high quality outputs. 

You will need to routinely work autonomously and proactively to manage competing priorities and work directly to senior DMCS staff and manage senior external stakeholder relationships. This is an exciting and visible role and will provide opportunities to engage with some of our leading cultural institutions. 

The candidate will work in a flexible and fast paced team, where colleagues may be asked to take on different responsibilities at different times, as determined by Ministerial priorities and fiscal events. 

Job description

The role holder is likely to focus on the following:

• Policy development regarding cultural education and improving access to the arts, including management and delivery of programmes relevant to these policy areas.
• Drafting strategic documents, plans and strategies, such as the joint Cultural Education Plan between DCMS and the Department for Education (DfE).
• Collaborate with Arts Council England, sector bodies and others to develop policy proposals and plans for fiscal events, including supporting the development of budget bids and spending review submissions.
• Ministerial engagement on cultural education, and access to the arts.
• Lead the arts team’s relationship with DfE, including identifying ongoing opportunities for collaborative working to deliver shared Government priorities.
• Developing and maintaining a stakeholder network on the arts and cultural sector’s work with children and young people, and using this to gather and share insights.
• Remain updated with latest policy developments and thinking on this policy brief, and to keep stakeholders and Ministers informed.
• To lead and contribute to Briefings, Parliamentary Questions, and parliamentary debates.
• Potential Line and task management of x2 Band Cs
• Drafting briefings for Ministers and Senior Civil Servants, being aware of the audience, the best messages to land and Departmental position.
• Engagement with Ministerial Private Offices and Comms, routinely liaising with ministerial teams to ensure the team is fully briefed on upcoming meetings, visits and stakeholder engagement opportunities.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential Requirement:

• Strong communication skills, including an ability to write clear advice, briefings, and compelling narratives.
• A problem-solver, with experience of using data, evidence and insights to develop a set of solutions to an issue, and is proactive in identifying potential barriers or risks
• Experience of working autonomously and leading distinct workstreams with light touch task management, and take a flexible approach to support colleagues as and when necessary, while consistently delivering high quality outputs
• Delivery focussed, with the ability to turn complex issues into a clear steps, with plans in place to deliver these.
• Be able to build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships, and use these to achieve positive outcomes.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of developing and implementing policy in government at pace.
• Experience of working in partnership with external stakeholders (e.g. an arm's length body) to deliver outcomes.
• Experience handling reactive, sometimes sensitive, external communications.
• Experience of managing projects to a timeline.
• Experience of line and/or task management

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,095, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £8,935 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55 PM Tuesday 16th January via the CS Jobs portal:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 3 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 500 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.
• A behaviour statement of 250 words on Seeing the Big Picture

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the lead behaviour: seeing the big picture. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with: dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths and potentially include a presentation.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. 

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to DCMS from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document.

Interviews

In most cases interviews will take place remotely via Google Meet video call. However please refer to the Candidate Information Pack to confirm the interview approach. 

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or a verbal test rather than a written one. 

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only., Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)
• 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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.