Assistant Private Secretary (Ref: 20972)

Job description

About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Assistant Private Secretary at the Ministry of Justice

HEO posts

Private Office and Parliament Directorate

Want to see how government really works? Join a team at the heart of ministerial decision-making, where every day brings new challenges, direct exposure to Ministers, and the chance to develop skills that will serve you throughout your career. We'll support you with active development opportunities and the chance to work flexibly in a team that values your contribution.

The Private Office and Parliament (POP) Directorate is recruiting for multiple HEO Assistant Private Secretaries (or similar private office roles). The exact portfolios these roles will cover are still to be confirmed (and will depend on the successful candidate) but will likely be in the private office of either the Courts or Prisons Minister. A reserve list will also be maintained in case of future vacancies. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Location:

Successful candidates will be based at 102 Petty France, London.

About the role

We're recruiting for at least two Assistant Private Secretary roles in a busy, dynamic team at the heart of government. This is your chance to work directly with a minister, providing expert advice and support that shapes decisions on issues that matter.

What you'll do: You'll lead on part of a ministerial portfolio, ensuring your minister is briefed, prepared and informed at every turn. You will make sure they have the right information and structure to make informed decisions. You'll be the vital link between the minister and the wider department, working with officials at all levels and representing your minister in the department and across Whitehall. From solving problems at pace to ensuring follow-up on key actions, you'll be trusted to make effective decisions in a fast-moving environment.

What we're looking for: Someone who thrives on building relationships, stays calm under pressure, and enjoys the challenge of keeping multiple plates spinning. You'll need strong interpersonal skills, excellent organisation, and the confidence to provide credible advice to ministers and engage with senior officials.

Why join us: This is an exciting time to be part of the Private Office and Parliament (POP) directorate. We're a friendly, collegiate team that supports each other to succeed in these demanding but rewarding roles. With a range of corporate workstreams and a culture of learning, POP is a place where you can develop, thrive and make a real impact.

Skills and Experience

We are looking for someone who has experience of:

Essential:

• Providing high quality advice and effective decision making. You should know how to analyse and use information to support ministerial decision making, knowing how to involve others and invite challenge when appropriate.
• You will be an effective communicator, knowing how to communicate in a straightforward and engaging manner, sharing information with colleagues as appropriate and taking into account different opinions and views.
• Experience of building effective professional relationships with others to identify risks and resolve issues efficiently. You will know how to involve a diverse range of colleagues, stakeholders and delivery partners in developing suggestions for improvements and provide an effective channel of communication for the Minister with other private offices, the Department, the rest of Whitehall, Parliament and the public.
• Someone that uses their relationships, judgement and understanding of the wider context to support the Minister in their work and to add value to the process and substance of decision making, ensuring financial and ethical probity. You should be engaging, trustworthy and unafraid to challenge peers and senior colleagues.
• You will be a collaborative, empathetic and inspiring team player, knowing how to effectively work within a team, escalate issues where appropriate and work together with others to deliver work to a high standard, often delivering at pace.

About the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is one of the largest government departments, employing over 90,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

Ways of Working

This role is only available on a full-time basis.

Due to the nature of this role the successful candidate will be expected to primarily work from the office in 102 Petty France.

Please note that this role may require working extended hours, including some evenings and weekends on a duty rota, for which a Private Secretary allowance is payable.

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department's pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

Security Clearance

This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.

This role requires SC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years.

Application process

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

Experience

During the application process you will be asked to provide a CV in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Behaviours

During the interview process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviours (see Annex A for more information):

• Delivering at pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates Invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be held in-person in 102 Petty France.

During the panel interview, you will be asked:

Behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of. The Behaviours that will be covered by the panel are as follows:

• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

There will be a short exercise during the interview, where candidates will be presented with a submission and asked to summarise the key points. The exercise will take approximately 10 minutes in total. You will also be asked at least one Strength question.

Strength based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role. There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Interviews are expected to take place in September.

Contact information

Please do get in touch with Donald Marshall if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team, via: [email protected]

Annex A - The STAR method

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• Where are you?
• Who was there with you?
• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?
• What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use "I" rather than "we" to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results - Don't be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?
• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,014, Ministry of Justice contributes £11,592 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : [email protected]
• Telephone : 0345 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL ([email protected]) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/20972?entityId=20972

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