About the job

Job summary

House of Commons

The House of Commons is a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK's thriving democratic system. 

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.

Introduction 

The Catering Services as part of the Customer Experience and Service Delivery team aims to deliver a comfortable, safe and efficient environment for Members of Parliament, their staff and staff of the House to work in; as well as providing a welcoming and functional environment for all visitors to the House of Commons.

Catering Services aim to deliver the best quality service with an enthusiastic and professional team for the benefit of all our customers. We are responsible for the efficient operation of the House of Commons catering facilities within the agreed financial framework.

Job description

The Kitchen Administrative Assistant is responsible for coordinating secretarial and clerical support services to the Executive Chef for the effective and efficient running of the Catering Back of House areas - Kitchens, Stewarding and Linen Room areas. The role will be based in the Palace of Westminster.

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Organise various programme board and team meetings – ensuring calendar availability of senior stakeholders and take accurate and concise minutes.
• Provide diary management, drafting and proofing all correspondence for the Executive Chef and senior kitchen management.
• Provide follow ups on all projects with stakeholders on behalf of the Executive Chef.
• Monitor all maintenance requirements for Back of House.
• Act as first point of contact for enquiries such as; sickness, holiday, conduct, management of attendance and the processing of all paperwork relating to this.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• Attention to detail with the ability to work quickly and flexibly under pressure to meet deadlines with strong prioritisation and organisational skills.
• Self-motivated and an ability to work accurately and methodically without continuous supervision.
• Proven experience of ability of communicating well and working effectively alongside others as part of a team, whilst upholding the values of equality, diversity, and inclusion.
• Good IT literacy, including experience of MS Office Products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and the ability to learn bespoke software packages.
• Being able to produce high quality written work, and capable of generating standard documents, correspondence and reports when required and in a timely manner.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £29,150, House of Commons contributes £21,280 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

Application Form - If you would like to apply for this role, please submit an application providing evidence against criteria 1-5 in the Job Description. 

More information on the role and the full criteria can be found in the Job Description. 

Please note that most job offers will be made at the minimum of the salary range, other than in exceptional circumstances.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.