About the job

Job summary

This Leader of the House of Lords has a vital role within the Government in Parliament Group of the Cabinet Office. The Leader is responsible for the delivery of the Government’s legislative programme within the Upper House. As a Business Management office, the Leader’s Private Office facilitates legislative delivery in a fast moving and politically sensitive environment. 

This role helps to facilitate the close interrelationship between the Leader of the Lords and Ministers across Whitehall. Most notably, the diary manager will coordinate meetings with the other Business Managers and Ministers with current or upcoming legislative business whilst also collaborating with Number 10 and wider teams in the Cabinet Office. 

This is a unique time to join a team at the heart of both Whitehall and Westminster. In this post, you will be intimately involved in planning for a General Election and then delivering on the priorities of whoever is in Government.

Job description

The Diary Manager will be posted within Parliament, inside the office of the Leader of the House of Lords, the Lord Privy Seal. 

The Leader of the House of Lords attends Cabinet and his main responsibilities include: 

• Managing government business within the House of Lords; 
• Attending the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Cabinet Committee.
• Advocating for the House of Lords within governmental decision making. 
• Representing the government within the internal governance structure of the House of Lords. 

The diary manager position is a challenging but integral position within the private office. The position requires a hard-working, highly-motivated and details oriented individual who can provide accurate diary support for the Leader of the House. The diary manager will work closely with colleagues in the office of the Lords Chief whip to ensure that the House of Lords business managers remain aligned in the delivery of government priorities within the Upper House. The successful candidate must be diligent but also a team player who would work well within a small and close-knit team. 

The diary manager will have significant authority over time management and diary scheduling. 

Private Office is an exciting environment to work in, with no two days being the same. There will be times when you will need to be willing to work additional  hours, but these will be rewarded with overtime payments. Annual leave is usually taken only during the parliamentary recesses.

Key duties will include: 

• Managing the diary to ensure that the Leader’s day is organised to ensure the most effective use of their time;
• Managing the Leader’s inbox, communicating with Members of the House of Lords, the House of Lords Administration, departments and Ministerial private offices. This will include coordinating diary and booking requests for the House of Lords Business Managers. 
• Coordinating the Leader’s daily papers and delivering briefing meetings with the Leader to ensure that the Leader is equipped for his day. 
• Having direct responsibility for the Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, providing them with the tools they need to support the Government when called upon.
• Developing and maintaining effective relationships with No 10, offices of other ministers, key stakeholders across Whitehall, the House of Commons administration and House of Commons counterparts;
• Managing the Leader’s travel to and from the House of Lords, Ministerial appointments and royal events. 
• This role will be stretching, other tasks will be added according to business needs and personal development.

Person specification

Essential skills include: 

• Understanding preferred working patterns; 
• Delivering a diary schedule that is aligned with the Minister’s priorities and pressures; 
• Forming strong working relationships with the Minister and other private offices; 
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; 
• Being able to balance competing tasks, remaining calm under pressure. 

Experience of managing a ministerial diary is not essential, but is desirable.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,000, Cabinet Office contributes £8,640 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 and Experience.

Application process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV, a Personal Statement and three behaviour statements.

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role. Please tailor your CV to match the role and its responsibilities and within your Personal Statement (max 500 words) please provide detailed evidence of the following:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; 
• Being able to balance competing tasks, remaining calm under pressure. 

In addition, you are required to provide three behaviour statements (max 250 words each) demonstrating evidence for the specified behaviours.

At the interview stage you will be assessed against the three behaviour statements. These are Delivering at pace, Managing a quality service and Communicating and Influencing. 

Expected timeline (subject to change)
Expected sift date – W/C 25th March 
Expected interview date/s – W/C 15th April
Interview location - London

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office 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.

Reasonable adjustments
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in 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 if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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.

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.

Further information
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting 

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.