Press & Communications Secretary to the Secretary of State - #1713962

London

Job Summary

We are looking for an ambitious, talented and motivated press & communications secretary to join our busy team at the heart of Government. Whether it's actions to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas, support farmers, protect the natural environment and protect communities from flooding the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its Arm's-Length Bodies is of huge public interest.

You will be a highly experienced communications professional with excellent knowledge of communications handling, combined with strong news judgement, political awareness and the ability to confidently present your work.

Job Description

This is a brand new role within Defra communications, working on high profile issues, directly supporting the Secretary of State to communicate the important work of Defra and its Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) to the media and the public. The objective is simple – to strategically plan and deliver long term communications using clear, creative and original content to reach our audiences. As part of a high-performing team, you will combine first-class communications skills, insight and exceptional news judgement to deliver creative communications plans which cover a full range of high profile media and non-traditional media, creative digital content and stakeholder engagement. You will demonstrate resilience working under pressure to short deadlines.

You will work closely with the Secretary of State and his political team, also spending time in the private office. Working with the speechwriter and the senior Defra communications team you will help shape the Secretary of State’s communications to match his voice.

This is a high-profile role and you will need to develop influential and trusted relationships with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders, including ministers and special advisers and of course the Secretary of State, with evidence of dealing with high-profile sensitive issues, professionalism and the ability to command confidence. As a senior member of the communications team, you will be required to work collaboratively across communications disciplines including Media, Digital and Strategic Communications.

Roles And Responsibilities:

• Provide communications and media advice to the Secretary of State
• Help shape Secretary of State communications content to ensure it matches his voice
• Brief the Secretary of State ahead of media engagements and attend visits
• Work with the high-performing communications team to develop proactive strategies that set the news agenda across the full range of channels including political, business and consumer audiences
• Contribute to a pipeline of positive Defra stories, assisting with strategic planning
• As part of an out of hours duty rota, provide media advice to the Secretary of State, ministers, department and wider Defra Group
• Have personal impact in the full range of media work from briefing journalists to advising ministers face-to-face
• Advise ministers, special advisers and senior policy colleagues on sensitive, complex or high-profile issues
• Build a strong network of relationships with key media across the brief
  
  

This is a brand new role within Defra communications, working on high profile issues, directly supporting the Secretary of State to communicate the important work of Defra and its Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) to the media and the public. The objective is simple – to strategically plan and deliver long term communications using clear, creative and original content to reach our audiences. As part of a high-performing team, you will combine first-class communications skills, insight and exceptional news judgement to deliver creative communications plans which cover a full range of high profile media and non-traditional media, creative digital content and stakeholder engagement. You will demonstrate resilience working under pressure to short deadlines.

You will work closely with the Secretary of State and his political team, also spending time in the private office. Working with the speechwriter and the senior Defra communications team you will help shape the Secretary of State’s communications to match his voice.

This is a high-profile role and you will need to develop influential and trusted relationships with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders, including ministers and special advisers and of course the Secretary of State, with evidence of dealing with high-profile sensitive issues, professionalism and the ability to command confidence. As a senior member of the communications team, you will be required to work collaboratively across communications disciplines including Media, Digital and Strategic Communications.

Roles And Responsibilities:

• Provide communications and media advice to the Secretary of State
• Help shape Secretary of State communications content to ensure it matches his voice
• Brief the Secretary of State ahead of media engagements and attend visits
• Work with the high-performing communications team to develop proactive strategies that set the news agenda across the full range of channels including political, business and consumer audiences
• Contribute to a pipeline of positive Defra stories, assisting with strategic planning
• As part of an out of hours duty rota, provide media advice to the Secretary of State, ministers, department and wider Defra Group
• Have personal impact in the full range of media work from briefing journalists to advising ministers face-to-face
• Advise ministers, special advisers and senior policy colleagues on sensitive, complex or high-profile issues
• Build a strong network of relationships with key media across the brief
  
  

Person specification

• Highly experienced communications professional
• Confident at handling high-profile national news stories and working on crisis communications / incident response
• Exceptional writing skills and the ability to confidently present their work
• Expert at developing strong working relationships with senior stakeholders
• Experience of delivering results at a senior level in a highly pressured comms environment
• Able to work collaboratively across a range of teams, leading and inspiring them to achieve desired results
• A detailed understanding of Westminster, and of political process in the UK and Devolved Administrations
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of Defra topics
  
  

Behaviours

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

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

Alongside your salary of £59,900, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £17,353 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
  
  

Selection process details

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

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to submit a CV, 500 word personal statement and Civil Service Behaviour statements.

For your personal statement, please provide detailed evidence of the criteria in the person specification.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift and interview dates, as well as the interview location, to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on a Civil Service Strength and the following Civil Service Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Seeing the Big Picture and Working Together.

A presentation/additional exercise may also be assessed.

Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.

Top scoring candidates from the interview will be invited to have an informal fireside chat with the Secretary of State.

Location

This role will be based at the Marsham Street, London office which will be the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post will need to change their contractual location to London if they are not currently contractually based in London.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Near Miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Criminal Record Check

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

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 [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
  
  

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any of the documentation for this role, please contact the email address in the Reasonable Adjustment section.

Internal Fraud Database Check

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.

Full Time Only

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.

NSV

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

Higher Security Clearance

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.

The level of security clearance required for this post is Counter Terrorist Check (CTC). Job offers to this post are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

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

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

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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 : Matt Hall
• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: [email protected]

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here