About the job

Job summary

The Honours team sits within a broader team leading on Departmental governance within the Ministerial Strategy Directorate at DBT. This is an exciting time to join a high-performing team, committed to delivering nominations for deserving individuals across the breadth of the economy. 

Honours are a unique form of national recognition. It is a distinctive way of acknowledging an individual’s contribution to UK life. The role of the team is to ensure the Department’s nominations are of the highest quality; reflect the diversity of the department and its stakeholders; deliver on the Secretary of State’s strategic priorities; and lead a rigorous assurance process to uphold the integrity of the Honours system. 

Job description

You will be responsible for leading and managing the DBT Honours process - working right across the department to help deliver exceptional employees and stakeholders for consideration in The King’s Birthday and New Years honours lists. The postholder will have a significant degree of autonomy and will have the opportunity to engage with important stakeholders from across the Department. 

Responsibilities include: 

• Leading and driving forward the delivery of DBT Honours processes ensuring DBT nominations are submitted to committees in a timely fashion and align with Secretary of State priorities. This will include supporting on and providing oversight for the teams. 
• Drafting and circulating commissions to relevant stakeholders that are in line with Ministerial steers on strategic priorities.
• Establishing, building and maintaining effective relationships with a range of external and internal stakeholders across the department and other government departments – at all levels.
• Rigorous data monitoring to target interventions during the honour's life-cycle and reporting on performance through continuous improvement dashboards. 
• Managing the communication between Cabinet Office and FCO Honours Secretariats in order to deliver DBT’s contribution to the Honours lists.
• Being a point of contact for all Committee members’ queries. Providing secretariat support to the Honours Sub-Committee and Main Committee.  
• Effectively and rigorously leading high quality due diligence checks of all Honours nominees, whilst also collecting intelligence with OGDs and stakeholders throughout process) to agreed timescales.
• The Royal Garden Party Process for DBT, ensuring that DBT’s invitations are aligned with the delivery of the department’s strategic priorities. This will include using communication and negotiation skills to develop and build relationships with key stakeholders such as Buckingham Palace and Cabinet Office.

In addition, you will be the project lead for core functions within honours, developing initiatives to improving the team’s output. This will include: 

• Leading strategic communications plans for internal and external stakeholders, including a growing suite of honours guidance and training events.
• Quality assuring all honours processes and making recommendations for continuous improvement, alongside devising targets and milestones against which to evaluate activity. 
• Developing strategies to improve the strength and diversity of the departmental honours pipeline. 

Person specification

Essential criteria  

• Excellent stakeholder management skills and ability to build proactive relationships with internal and external stakeholders 
• A proactive approach to improving processes and helping to embed these across the team 
• Highly effective written and verbal communications skills and the ability to engage senior stakeholders 
• Strong planning and project management skills  

Desirable criteria 

• Experience of drafting papers for committees   
• Experience of Excel, Power BI, and interpreting complex data 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,384, Department for Business and Trade contributes £10,633 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 and Experience.

Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:  

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the Essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
• A Personal Statement of up to 500 words, explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the Essential criteria.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.

Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Candidate Support

You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview. 

Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department.

Further Information:

• A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.
• Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
• The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases. 
• New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. 
• Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty. Any applicant who has details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
• A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. 
• Terms and Conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you. 
• Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland/Access NI on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email accessni@ani.x.gsi.gov.uk

Vetting

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.  

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Feedback

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 security 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

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.