About the job

Job summary

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.  

Come and join the DBS community today!

Job description

The DBS Secretariat has two roles:

1. Responsibility for co-coordinating and drafting responses to Ministerial briefing requests, Ministerial correspondence, parliamentary questions, and Freedom of Information Requests,
2. Supporting the monthly DBS Board and quarterly Customer Board both chaired by the Chief Executive.

As one of six HEOs this is a high-profile post primarily acting as a case manager responsible for managing the timely and accurate completion of Parliamentary business, Freedom of Information requests, public correspondence responses and input to media briefings in support of the whole of DBS. As a secondary role this case manager will also provide cover for the Board Secretary as necessary by maintaining an understanding of the role of and taking the lead in supporting the quarterly 2* Customer Board through the timely preparation of agenda, commissioning and distribution of actions and papers and maintaining accurate records of meetings.

Key to this role will be the ability to work in a fast-paced environment, to engage with Subject Matter Experts across the DBS areas and with the single Service secretariats, policy leads and the Defence Directorate of Communications to establish effective and beneficial relationships in order to provide team output.

You will:

• Directly manage one Executive Officer (EO) Drafter and provide coaching and guidance to EO drafters and authorising clearance of Treat Official correspondence replies drafted by EO Drafters.
• Ensure that DBS related Parliamentary and Ministerial business is handled in a timely, accurate and balanced way meeting Departmental targets.
• Draft as necessary formal responses to Ministerial correspondence or briefing requests, ensuring that Parliamentary, political and presentational aspects of Ministerial submissions are given full consideration.
• Deal with Requests for Information (on DBS owned and managed information) in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).
• Checking of drafted replies ensuring impartiality, accuracy of subject matter, Parliamentary Standards are adhered to, and internal timeliness targets are met. 
• Provide cover as necessary to the DBS Board Secretary and take the lead as secretary to the Customer Board by, preparing agenda, commissioning and distribution of actions and decision papers, the taking of minutes and maintaining accurate records.

Person specification

• Be able to build and maintain strong, effective relationships across a broad spectrum of stakeholders.
• Be curious and tenacious, tackling problems and identifying solutions.
• Have excellent communication skills including the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas, verbally or in writing, simplifying complexities and adapting communication so others can understand.
• Be precise and manage and support others in the development of skills and knowledge required to deliver goals and objectives and give attention to detail.
• Be organised and able to work to short timelines and constantly changing priorities.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,528 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, Ability and Experience.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience. 

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit. 

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on your Primary: Experience - CV. In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following: 

Ability Tests: 

• Numerical 
• Verbal 

Experience:  

• CV : Including Job History & Previous skills / Experience 
• Personal Statement : In no more than 1000 words, including evidence of the following criteria: Ability to communicate thoughts and ideas, verbally or in writing, simplifying complexities and adapting communication so others can understand. Ability to work under pressure, effectively collaborating to drive forward a shared goal. Ability to make plans and be well prepared in order to maximise time and productivity. 

At interview you will be assessed against the following: 

Behaviours: 

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing 
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:  

1. Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
2. Behaviour - Working Together
3. Behaviour - Delivering at Pace
4. Behaviour - Leadership

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the below order or priority: 

1. Experience - Personal statement
2. Experience - CV

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months. – this will need amending to 3 months for internal or across government roles. 

Application sifting to take place Middle to End Of March 2024

Interviews are currently taking place via Ms Teams and will be conducted towards the End Of March 2024

 A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. 

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk 

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. 

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.  

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.  

To assist with your application please find attached -   

DBS Candidate Information Guide - 

Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) , (26) UK Ministry of Defence: Life , LinkedIn

 

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 security 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.