About the job

Job summary

Safer Greener Buildings (SGB), a unit of DLUHC, started work 5 years ago to make buildings safer following the Grenfell Tower fire.

Until now, all delivery has taken place in two programmes within DLUHC, supported by delivery partners in Homes England and the Greater London Authority. In future, delivery will be conducted through five programmes, with a much greater role for Homes England, the newly established Building Safety Regulator, and industry itself through Developer Self Remediation.

As the complexity and scale of remediation increases, a Portfolio model is being implemented. The Portfolio itself will be made up of 7 to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work. functions and 5 programmes, and will lead some areas of work, and co-ordinate others between the Department and its Delivery Partners.

The Portfolio Performance team sets the strategic direction, empowers programmes by setting standards, applying rigour and aggregating intelligence to create the conditions for programmes to deliver at pace and be successful. The Portfolio Performance team has a critical role as a convenor across the portfolio driving the forward look for the portfolio, providing a single source of truth to support effective management and decision making as well as building and promoting a positive culture and ways of working across the portfolio. The function is expected to intervene directly where necessary, to solve the most difficult or complex problems by building strategic relationships to drive forward performance results that will ultimately have a direct impact on the livelihood of residents.

The Delivery Unit has a crucial role in driving performance across the portfolio through deep understanding of data analysis, challenging ‘so what’ thinking and instilling robust governance and risk management. As the Grade 7 for Governance & Assurance you will be responsible for managing governance across the portfolio, tracking decisions made at programme level and developing change control processes. This role will entail working across several portfolio and programme teams to track decisions across the portfolio.

Job description

· Lead the development and implementation of governance policies and procedures for the Safer Greener Buildings portfolio aligned to the approved business case and GMPP standards.

· Lead on the development and implementation of a portfolio governance and decision-making framework that supports the strategic objectives of the organisation

· Lead the development and implementation of an effective change control process for the portfolio

· Track the effectiveness of governance forums, policies and procedures and recommend and lead on changes as needed

· Ensure the portfolio governance and decision making is clear and transparent

· Lead on regular reporting to senior leaders on governance matters

· Provide guidance and support to senior leaders on governance matters

· Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across portfolio governance forums

· Provide leadership to team members providing the secretariat to portfolio governance

· Lead the assurance strategy for the portfolio in line with GMPP, IPA, HMT and departmental standards and guidance  

· Plan and lead assurance reviews for the portfolio and work collaboratively across the portfolio and with senior leaders to identify and deliver necessary improvements  

· Work with the Head of Performance & Risk and with other leaders in the portfolio to manage the relationship with the IPA and lead other relationships with key internal and external bodies and teams e.g. Central Portfolio Office, GIAA, NAO, GLA and Homes England assurance teams  

Person specification

Person Specification

· You will have a good understanding of corporate governance principles and practices

· You will have experience of managing governance for programmes or portfolios of a similar scale and complexity

· You will have experience developing governance procedures for programmes or portfolios of a similar scale and complexity

· You will have experience working with senior leaders to promote and ensure good governance across the portfolio

· You will have experience managing secretariat activities across multiple governance forums

· You will have experience delivering assurance activities in line with IPA/GMPP standards

Essential Criteria

· Experience managing multiple governance forums at a programme or portfolio level of a similar scale or complexity

· Strong experience of working with and managing senior stakeholders to ensure effective, transparent and accountable governance across a programme or portfolio or similar scale and complexity

· Experience developing governance and assurance procedures and processes

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £51,934, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £14,022 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

We are for everyone 

 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role. 

 

We are for everyone 

 

 

CV and Cover Letter Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

  

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

 

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. 

 

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors. 

 

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing: 

 

Examples: 

Experience 

Technical Ability 

 

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. 

In your CV and covering letter, please include:  
 
a. why you are interested in the role; 
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required 

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience and technical based questions as listed in the advert. 

You will be expected to provide a presentation at interview stage, the details of which will be provided upon invitation.

In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description 

Technical: Yes – Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. 

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs: 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign 

 

Grade 7 salary 

• The salary for this role is £51,934 (National). 
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 
   

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

Benefits 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 

Any move to DLUHC 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. 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

 

Location 

• Birmingham
• Leeds
• Wolverhampton 
• Darlington* 

 

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.   

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

Sift and Interview dates 
 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 15th January 2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned.The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

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. 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.