About the job

Job summary

Local Growth Policy Advisor - West Yorkshire The Cities and Local Growth Unit (CLGU) is a joint unit between the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

We support economic development, regeneration, and growth in places across the UK, but especially in places where there is a disparity against higher performing areas(sometimes referred to as ‘left behind places’). We support the delivery of initiatives including: support for towns and high streets, levelling up and community renewal funding and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; devolution of powers and funding to Mayors; and responses to economic shocks.

Job description

As Local Growth Policy Advisor for West Yorkshire you will become, in time, an expert on economic growth in your local area and utilise in-depth knowledge of the area’s politics, economy, challenges and opportunities.

You will build and hold strong and productive working level relationships in your area, including with Local Authority economic development officers, on occasion Chief Executives and senior Directors, HE/FE and other institutions, local government associations, local business organisations and others.

You will use your detailed local knowledge to lead on high quality briefing material tailored for the audience (usually Ministers and Senior Civil Servants), and promoting, arranging, and supporting Ministerial and other visits and wider Parliamentary and Departmental business.

You will also effectively manage team information and data in order to produce regular or urgent reports on your local economies, developing an up-to-date and robust understanding of economic trends and their impact on their area; and will work with other teams to produce analysis of these reports and recommendations for action if necessary.

Our team:

Yorkshire is such a diverse region: big cities, historic towns, three national parks – and also towns that grew up around single industries, now looking for better days. But in this diversity is unity: no other region has such a strong sense of identity. This sense of shared commitment is evident in our team, which mixes people who have lived all their lives here with others who have moved to make their homes in Yorkshire, or nearby.

Recent successes such as the attraction of Channel 4 to Leeds and the investment by Siemens Gamesa in the offshore wind blade factory in Hull show what is possible. We are now working closely with the elected metro mayors in the big urban areas of West and South Yorkshire and progressing mayoral devolution to other parts of Yorkshire.

We are also working with local authorities to ensure the success of approximately £1.6 billion of ‘levelling up’ investment into projects across the region, including sixteen Town Deals, half of which are in West Yorkshire including Dewsbury, Keighley and Wakefield. In addition, we are also working across other government departments to progress large scale regeneration initiatives such as housing led regeneration in Sheffield and Leeds, along with a much-needed Mass Transit System for West Yorkshire.

On a day-to-day basis, we work to make life better in Yorkshire, supporting ideas generated by our partners. We hope you’ll want to join us. This post will be anchored in our Leeds office, but with options to work in other locations - and time spent out and about in the region is even more important. Our working balance involves a blend of home, office and external working (though working from home can be minimised if it is not convenient for you). Whilst roles may on occasion involve out of hours working to accommodate travel and meetings, we work as a team to balance our diaries and our lives appropriately. We support hybrid and flexible working and we would love to see applications from a diverse range of candidates to join our inclusive teams. CLGU is committed to the welfare of all our people. We take mental health and work-life balance seriously.

Role responsibilities

You will:

• Support Government’s relationships on local growth in your local area, including collaborating on economic development plans in the area and supporting local authorities, universities, business groups and others in their interactions with central Government;
• Support your team to work with local partners to deliver funds including the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, £3.6bn Towns Fund, and £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
• Maintaining a day-to-day relationship with local authorities and other organisations in your area, holding regular meetings to discuss programme performance and leading interventions should delivery issues be faced.
• Represent Government at meetings including at Town Deal Boards.
• Produce regular reporting on your local economies, developing a strong understanding of economic trends and their impact on the area.
• Use local knowledge and awareness of policy to draft well written pieces of correspondence on key issues in their area.
• Support a range of engagement by their team, including developing agendas and arrangements for a range of meetings inside and outside of government.

Corporate responsibilities:

You will:

• Support the efficient running of the team by taking responsibility for important corporate or organisational tasks including coordination of cross-cutting requests, compilation of risk registers etc.
• Be an active member of your team, promoting an inclusive atmosphere, and looking for ways we can improve

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Highly dynamic and capable of delivering at pace.
• Stakeholder management and analytical skills.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,178, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £8,688 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.

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. 

  

Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role.   

 

As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. 

 

We are for everyone 

 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

 

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

 

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

 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  
• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  
• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

 

 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Behaviour 1 (lead behaviour) - Communicating & Influencing 

Behaviour 2 - Seeing the big picture 

Behaviour 3 - Delivering at Pace

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

 

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour – Seeing the big picture, Making effective decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at pace

Strength - The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

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

 

Behaviours: Seeing the big picture, Making effective decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at pace

Strengths: Yes

 

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – 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. 

 

 

HEO salary 

• The salary for this role is £32,178 (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. 

  

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Leeds

This post is role is Yorkshire based and focused on local engagement within the Yorkshire region the successful candidate will need to be based in Leeds.

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. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 18/4/24 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 in 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. 

 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

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 

 

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.