About the job

Job summary

The First Parliamentary Counsel is a specialist leadership role within the Cabinet Office, at Permanent Secretary level. The holder of the role leads an office of professional legislative drafters, as well as the wider Government in Parliament group.

The Government in Parliament group in the Cabinet Office consists of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Offices of  the Parliamentary Business Managers.

The First Parliamentary Counsel’s principal responsibilities to Ministers are for the production and passage of Bills in the Government’s legislative programme and for supporting the Parliamentary Business Managers to deliver the Government’s parliamentary business. They attend all meetings of the Cabinet’s Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee, provide advice on the production and handling of Bills to the Business Managers before and after introduction into Parliament and work across departments to promote the building of parliamentary capability amongst civil servants. They are also the Government’s principal link with the senior clerks and other members of the authorities of both Houses of Parliament in connection with matters of legislative procedure.

The First Parliamentary Counsel also acts as a legal and constitutional adviser to the Cabinet Secretary on issues relating to government formation, machinery of government changes, the appointment of Ministers, and other constitutional matters.

We are looking for an exceptional leader with strong legislative skills and the ability to lead and manage the Government in Parliament group in relation to delivery of the overall legislative programme. You will be expected to set the future direction within the strategic context, engage your people and develop their capability, manage effectively using strong project management disciplines and ensure delivery of results within budget.

Job description

Please see the attached candidate brief and job specification

Person specification

Please see the attached candidate brief and job specification

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £180,000, Cabinet Office contributes £48,600 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

Please see the attached candidate brief and job specification

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 developed vetting (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.