About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Crops are not the only thing you will cultivate in this life-changing role. Leading a group of prisoners to maintain, harvest and cultivate the prison’s gardens, you will develop their skills and confidence, and assess accredited vocational qualifications.

We will rely on you and your team to ensure protected cropping is grown and harvested to the highest standards. This is a role with broad accountability, maintaining everything from field-scale soil husbandry, to plant and crop development, to biological pest control and any necessary chemical crop protection programs.

But the work you do with prisoners will have the longest lasting impact - and the most unique challenges. You will set tasks to match their ability, while ensuring safety and production is maintained at all times. Taking careful account of labelling, grading and presentation, you will see that produce grown on-site is prepared and packaged appropriately. Along the way, you could play a part in supporting entry to our annual best kept prison garden competition, judged by the Royal Horticultural Society. You will certainty discover potential for rewarding development of your career.

Ideally, you will bring to the role a relevant vocational qualification or equivalent suitable experience. We expect you to be familiar with soil and growing medium husbandry, crop protection, crop production and plant protection technology, and the preparation of fresh produce for sale.

You will certainly bring a caring and resilient approach to your work. While supervisory experience will definitely be an advantage, what matters most is that you demonstrate strong communication, persuading and influencing skills. We expect you to be committed to achieving quality within a safe and secure environment. Please note you may be required to work some evenings and weekends.

Overview of the job

This is a non-operational instructional job in an establishment.

Summary

The job holder will be responsible for the day-to-day maintenance, harvesting and  cultivating of the establishments gardens, ensuring protected cropping is grown and harvested to the highest standards and assess accredited vocational qualifications to prisoners.

This is a non-operational job in an establishment with no line management responsibilities.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Maintain correct field-scale soil husbandry, ensuring all stages of crop  development are followed in accordance with good horticultural practice.
• Maintain the growing plant/crop to ensure optimum development and/or cropping, ensuring that the plants needs are fully met.
• Maintain effective biological pest control measures and any necessary chemical  crop protection programmes.
• Resolve any prisoner work issues, setting task to match their ability whilst ensuring safety and production is maintained at all times.
• Ensure produce grown on-site is prepared and packaged appropriately, taking into consideration appropriate labelling, grading and overall presentation.
• Maintain sports fields as per agreed plan with both the Farms and Gardens  Manager and PE Department.
• Carry out preventative pest control measures across area of responsibility.

Undertake other instructor tasks including:

• May participate in the selection process of prisoners for the workshop/area of work.
• Induct prisoners to the workshop/area of work and train them in aspects such as  Health and Safety, Control of Substance Hazardous to health (COSHH), machinery  and tools usage.
• Provide support for prisoners where required; tailor learning and training  requirements to individual needs.
• Set work schedules and manage targets/quality standards, maintaining delivery  of contractual arrangements.
• Assess and evaluate skills of prisoners up to national qualification standards.
• Supervise and maintain discipline of prisoners within workshop/area of work, responsible for performance, motivation, discipline, appraisal and development of prisoners.
• Maintain regular communications via radio net in accordance with Local Security  Strategy (LSS).
• Open and complete Assessment Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) forms,  Violence Reduction Incident Reports (VRIR) and Security Information Reports 
(SIRs) when required and contribute to Incentive Earned Privileges (IEP) reports.
• Will conduct a metal detector scan or rub down search of prisoners attending and leaving their own workshops.
• Provide quality assurance against product specification.
• Log attendance and approve prisoner hours worked and wages including recording piece work where appropriate.
• Carry out fabric and tool checks of workshops and maintain security of areas,  logging any tool/equipment faults. Undertake planned maintenance programme  on machinery.
• Contribute to prisoner reports including parole and sentence planning.
• Complete regime monitoring information and update prisoner training records.
• Contribute to Health and Safety risk assessments relating to the workshop/work  of area and specialist areas.
• Request materials and estimate usage in order to meet work targets.
• Initiate product development reviews to maintain workshop/area of work output levels, and to provide variety of work and experience for prisoners.
• Participate in self-audit and in achieving Service Delivery Indicators (SDIs).
• Complete administration activities to support the smooth running of the workshop.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

An ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,471, HM Prison & Probation Service contributes £8,257 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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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.