About the job

Job summary

In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

DHSC works with 13 arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), including the UK Health Security Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority, which deliver services on behalf of the Department. We have three roles available across two teams in the ALB Oversight and Review Team, which manages a number of cross-cutting areas across departmental policy and sponsorship of our ALBs, including ALB accountability, sponsorship capability, delivery of the public bodies reviews programme, the Public Sector Equality Duty and better regulation.

The Public Bodies Review Programme, led by Cabinet Office, requires government departments to conduct reviews of their public bodies to:

• assess whether a function should be delivered by the State, or whether an alternative is more fitting.
• Ensure public bodies have a ‘laserlike’ focus on delivering their objectives, and are not making decisions which fall under the remit of Ministers.
• Reduce the burden on the taxpayer as the increased pressures ofthe pandemic on the public purse come to an end.
• Spend taxpayer money with greater care and ensure performance, expenditure and other data is shared openly.

The Programme delivers on commitments made in the Declaration on Government Reform in 2021 to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of public bodies, and will look to identify a minimum of 5% savings for each organisation.

We are a small, friendly team and no two days are the same. There will be opportunities to learn and develop your skills, as well as gain experience in other areas of the team’s work if desired.

Job description

There are two roles available working within the team delivering DHSC’s programme of Public Bodies Reviews and one role in the Policy Assurance and ALB Oversight Team.

Each role will involve close working with senior stakeholders, public bodies and their DHSC sponsorship teams to ensure that each of DHSC’s public bodies is efficient, effective and accountable. You will work within a small team to manage the relationship with sponsors of a portfolio of ALBs or on the delivery of reviews, each of which will last four to six months. You will help brief DHSC senior leaders and ministers, manage the relationship with the Cabinet Office Public Bodies Team and organise and provide the secretariat function for meetings.

These are exciting opportunities to work directly with our ALBs and will suit those with excellent writing and analysis skills and experience managing differing priorities, building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders and supporting the delivery of projects to deadlines.

Person specification

Researching and analysing information from different sources.

Building and maintaining strong relationships with ALBs and DHSC officials.

Maintaining project management documentation including actions logs, project plans and shared folders.

Providing the secretariat function for reviews or regular senior-level meetings, including arranging meetings, setting agenda, taking minutes, providing meeting summaries, booking travel and accommodation and managing the day-to-day relationship with stakeholders.

Developing policy and analysing evidence to improve the sponsorship and oversight of DHSC’s public bodies.

Key skills and experience required for the role

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and management skills as you will be working with senior officials and senior leaders from DHSC’s public bodies.
• Experience of applying sound judgement to prioritise competing tasks.
• Experience working on or supporting a project with a tight deadline.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills with the ability to summarise large volumes of information clearly and concisely.
• Excellent organisation and administrative skills.
• The ability to build and maintain strong working relationships and work collaboratively with others.
• Previous experience of working with public bodies is desirable but not essential.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,188, Department of Health and Social Care contributes £8,690 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 and Experience.

Sift date: TBC

Interview date: TBC

Interview location: By video

The available interview slots will be released with the sift scores. 

Applications will be sifted on CV, Statement of Suitability, and Behaviours.

Please use your CV to set out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. These can be found in the ‘key skills and experience required for the role’ section of the advert.

Please use your statement of suitability to (in no more than 500 words) outline how you meet the key skills and experience required for the role as set out in the job advert.

An initial sift based on Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing may be held if a large number of applications are received. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

At interview candidates will be assessed on Behaviours and Strengths.

To find out more about working in the department please visit our page on the Civil Service Careers Website here and to find out more information on how to apply visit the Civil Service Careers Website here 

Applicants who are appointable but were not successful in appointment to this vacancy, may be held on a reserve list for up to 12 months, and contacted if similar vacancies become available. 

Please be aware that some travel may be required across the DHSC estate. 

Please note that applicants will require BPSS clearance.

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.