About the job

Job summary

The Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) sits in the centre of DCMS as part of the Corporate Strategy Directorate.

We are a friendly, supportive and high performing team of around 30 people supporting the strategic management of the department through:

• Providing senior officials and ministers with high quality advice on complex strategic / policy issues to support effective decision making; 
• Delivering high profile cross cutting policy, such as economic growth, tech, environmental sustainability, union and devolution and levelling up;
• Coordinating the delivery of the department’s legislation;
• Leading the department through fiscal events and General Election preparation;
• Building the department’s strategic capabilities.

Our broad team remit means there is plenty of opportunity to get involved in many different aspects of the department’s work.

Further information about the role can be found in the candidate pack attached below.

Job description

These are two diverse and important roles, which are right at the heart of DCMS. This is a particularly exciting time to join, with an upcoming Spending Review (SR) that will touch all parts of the department.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Supporting DCMS’s fiscal event preparations, including the upcoming SR for the department: ensuring we have the right evidence, analysis and relationships to succeed for our sectors and stakeholders.
• Leadership of several key workstreams within the fiscal event process, including account management of policy and/or corporate teams and project management of the Fiscal event process. 
• Supporting the development of DCMS’ long term strategy and priorities, particularly around Youth policy and the department’s contribution to Economic Growth.  
• Providing assessment of the strategic case of business cases for the department 

You'll play a key role in helping DCMS build its capability in preparation for SR, providing high quality advice to ministers and officials on complex and novel issues. You will work closely with Strategic Finance, Analysts, policy colleagues, Ministers and the centre of Government. You will be expected to lead and plan work, reporting directly to senior DCMS leaders.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential requirements

• Confident and experienced in delivering at pace, amidst uncertainty and conflicting priorities; 
• Able to think strategically to design and deliver complex programmes of work, identifying areas of join-up to streamline activity;
• Has strong interpersonal skills and is comfortable challenging senior colleagues to deliver shared and (sometimes) differing objectives; 
• Able to think critically and proactive identify and address opportunities, risks, barriers and tensions within a fiscal event context;
• An excellent communicator, with experience in giving direction and negotiating with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm. 

Desirable skills

• Experience of working in strategy and/or spending teams;
• Experience working across Departmental boundaries, such as (but not limited to) cross-whitehall funds, white paper development or No10, HMT or Cabinet Office secretariat roles;
• Comfortable with financial data.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. this will be hosted by Amy Jolliffe, and will take place on:

16th May, 11:30am-12:30pm

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation. 

Please note that the session will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,839, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £13,456 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.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than Tuesday 21st May 2024 at 23:55 via the CS Jobs portal:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 3 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths and potentially include a presentation which will be provided at interview.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Delivering at pace
• Seeing the big picture 
• Working together 
• Communicating and influencing

You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. 

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack.

Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets.

Further Information

There are two roles available, one role is offered on a permanent basis and one role is a fixed term/loan basis for 12 month maternity cover.

If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only. Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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  

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service 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

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 had their employment continued. Any applicant’s 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.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

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 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

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.