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 Governance Office supports the governing body of the House of Commons, the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Mr Speaker. The office provides the secretariat for the Commission, the Commons Executive Board and a number of Domestic Committees. It also has responsibility for key corporate functions, including internal audit, strategic planning and performance, information compliance and safety.

The Parliamentary Safety Team (PST) is a bicameral team that sits within the wider House of Commons Governance Office. The team is responsible for the provision of specialist advice, support and independent assurance that Parliament is managing safety sensibly, consistently, proportionately and effectively, and for the development and embedding of a positive safety culture across the wider Parliamentary community.

Job description

The Health and Safety Team will deliver a significant programme of safety culture and delivery transformation improvements over the coming years. These improvements are informed by the wider Governance Office’s strategic aims and will help to embed a positive and proactive safety culture across Parliament and help to transform the way that staff, members, members staff and contractors approach health & safety whilst working on the wider Parliamentary estate.

The Programme Manager is a new role, created to drive forward this programme of transformation and improvements and to provide strategic support and expertise to the team. The Programme Manager will also oversee and help support the Director of Parliamentary Safety in designing a new operating structure for the Health & Safety team which will best support the delivery of the transformation programme across Parliament.

The Programme Manager will lead improvements across a range of projects and will work with the Safety Compliance and Culture Manager to develop a programme of delivery for the overarching transformation plan. They will define priorities, identify risks, establish work plans, engage relevant stakeholders and work across teams to deliver high quality outcomes. The Programme Manager will also provide governance to the Transformation Working Group and provide updates on progress to the Parliamentary Safety Assurance Board on a quarterly basis. 

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Work closely with the Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (EPMO) team and the Safety Culture and Transformation Manager to develop and implement a safety transformation programme for the wider organisation.
• Establish and lead the Safety Transformation Working Group, providing governance to the Group to ensure that actions are monitored and progress is reported to the Parliamentary Safety Assurance Board (PSAB) on a quarterly basis.
• Undertake a review of the current operating model for Health & Safety and work with the Director of Parliamentary Safety to develop a restructure and organisational delivery plan that will best meet the needs of Parliament and the Safety Transformation Programme.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent professional qualification in Health and Safety and/or a project and/or programme management qualification such as Project Management Professional (PMP), PRINCE2 Practitioner, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) or similar.
• Experience of successfully developing and implementing a safety transformation or a large scale business change programme in an environment where there are multiple stakeholders and interested parties.
• Experience of developing structured plans across a range of activities to deliver strategic objectives. Ability to monitor progress against these plans and re prioritise when necessary.
• Experience of building collaborative, inclusive partnerships with diverse stakeholders to achieve organisational goals.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £68,900, House of Commons contributes £18,603 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

• CV & Supporting Statement – If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV and covering letter with a 500 word limit. 

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.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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

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

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.