About the job

Job summary

The post holder will provide the UKHSA East of England Region with expert advice and support for health emergency preparedness and resilience working in conjunction with the Senior EPM.  Assisting in ensuring governance and audit of all regional and UKHSA EoE Region emergency plans and will be required to attend Local Resilience Fora, Local Health Resilience Partnership meetings and their sub-groups.  Work with the Senior EPM and wider EPRR team in delivering business plan priorities that includes the implementation of recommendations from lessons identified from response to incidents and exercises, expected to develop and deliver training in EPRR to different professional groups within and outside UKHSA and develop and lead exercises to test response plans.

Job description

Duties undertaken in close liaison and with the support/ assistance of the relevant Senior EPM and other EPMs:

1. Strategically develop, manage and provide an expert and high-quality specialist EPRR and business continuity advice function for the Regional Centre.
2. Lead in the development of guidance for UKHSA health EPRR strategies for the Regional Centre and to contribute nationally as appropriate, in compliance with UKHSA’s status as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act.
3. Where appropriate lead and manage the Emergency Preparedness Administrator(s) in the team.
4. Ensure the Region's resilience by providing strategic direction in the development and coordination of the organisation’s emergency preparedness and planning arrangements.
5. Ensure the Regional Centre business continuity plans are in place and tested regularly.
6. Actively contribute to and sustain the formulation of regional policies and strategies, contingency guidance and plans, through liaison with the emergency services, the military, Other Government Departments (OGDs), LAs, other responsible agencies e.g. public utilities, voluntary agencies, industry and commercial organisations.
7. Manage the development and maintenance of all emergency plans, working with colleagues to ensure that there is a consistent and coordinated system of response.
8. Ensure and strategically develop as necessary risk specific plans for the Region e.g. nuclear power station, COMAH sites and others as listed in regional and local risk assessments.
9. Ensure and manage robust response facilities and resilient secure communications in the Region which requires active participation in managing the response to incidents and emergencies.
10. Ensure that plans and response systems are tested and exercised and to contribute and when appropriate design such exercises. Assess the strategic importance and ensure UKHSA involvement in regional and local multi-agency exercises.
11. Liaise with Local Resilience Fora to ensure that UKHSA involvement in regional and local multi-agency exercises can be met within existing capacity.
12. Ensure all emergency preparedness activities in their area of responsibility are audited in a way consistent with UKHSA’s status as a Category 1 responder with respect to the CCA.
13. Co-ordinate and lead when appropriate, internal response support arrangements during major incidents and business continuity disruptions particularly at a local level.
14. Support the Region in its contribution to the Local Resilience Fora and Local Health Resilience Partnerships and to represent UKHSA at these fora which may require taking forward of specific areas of work and participation in sub-groups as necessary, taking part in local risk assessment discussions.
15. Maintain an upward briefing and co-ordination system, ensuring the provision of strategic, tactical and operational support to a UKHSA response at which the Region is involved
16. Lead, co-ordinate and design as necessary the training of staff emergency preparedness and business continuity.
17. Lead the local/regional review of major incidents and UKHSA involvement in exercises.  Assist in design, development and co-ordination of constructive debriefs for major incidents, dissemination of lessons identified and recommendations for future best practice.
18. Participation in the relevant on-call rota, where required
19. Contribute to the preparedness for and response to major incidents and emergencies, as defined in the UKHSA Concept of Operations, as required.
20. Expected to provide mutual aid support to other EPMs within the region and under exceptional circumstances, in other regions.
21. Work with other EPMs, EPOs and SEPMs as part of a national EPM network.
22. On call may be required of this role.

For a full list of the main duties and responsibilities of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description. 

 

Person specification

Essential criteria

You will be assessed on the below 7 essential criteria, which have been selected from the Job Description 

• Significant experience of working in emergency planning, preparedness and response
• Knowledge of emergency and resilience planning methodologies
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Demonstrated experience of coordinating projects in complex and challenging environments
• Experience of managing risks and reporting
• Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence at SMT level 
• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships.

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of the public sector
• Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,724, UK Health Security Agency contributes £10,455 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 will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your Qualifications, knowledge and experience and / or skills and capabilities outlined in the essential criteria.

Stage 1: Application & Sift 

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the above listed seven essential criteria, and this will be in the form of:  

• An application form, where you will be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.
• A Statement of Suitability, in no more than 1500 words outlining why you will be suitable for the role. 

Your Statement of Suitability should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria. Please do not exceed 1500 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number. 

The application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together. 

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.  If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview.

 Stage 2: Interview 

You will be invited to a (single) face to face  interview. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview  

The competency-based framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.  Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview.

Interviews will be held week commencing 1st of July. Please note, these dates are subject to change.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

 Location information 

The post holder will be required to work at one of UKHSA's locations at either Harlow, Mildenhall or Cambridge. 

UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow.  This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's locations mentioned above. 

 Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Disability Confident scheme  

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.  

 Reserve List   

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.   

Starting salary

Entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.  

The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase.  

Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

For further details please refer to the Information Sheet - Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.

If face to face interviews are planned, in exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview  

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.