Permanent Secretary - #1737351

The role will require regular travel to London, but consideration of other working locations will be given.

Job Summary

Defra is a ministerial department with principal locations in London, Bristol, York, and Newcastle. It currently directly employs over 6800 Civil Servants, but has a broader workforce of 33,000 across its Defra group network which is made up of 8 major agencies and public bodies.

Defra’s mission is to safeguard what matters most: food, water, air, and the safety of the country to create a world where businesses grow, people thrive, and our natural environment is protected for future generations. This is underpinned by our Secretary of State’s five priorities:

• to clean up Britain's rivers, lakes and seas;
• create a roadmap to a circular economy;
• support farmers to boost food security;
• ensure nature's recovery; and,
• and protect communities from the dangers of flooding.
  
  

Defra’s impact extends beyond borders, sharing our expertise and shaping policies globally. Our delivery approach is rooted in the collaboration of independently unique professionals working together from across the Defra group network, seamlessly blending the skills of civil and public servants, and using the application of science, data, and innovation to deliver our ambitious outcomes, efficient services and strengthen resilience.

Our people are therefore at the heart of making this happen, and we are committed to building an inclusive, dynamic workplace and investing in our people, so together, we can improve living standards, support better public services and create a more sustainable future.

Job Description

The Permanent Secretary is the lead adviser to the Secretary of State; they represent the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the highest level.

Specifically, The Permanent Secretary:

• Acts as the primary policy adviser to the Secretary of State and his Ministerial team in setting the overall strategy and policy for the Department, ensuring it is cost effective, evidence-based and achievable.
• As Accounting Officer, is accountable to Parliament for the Department’s performance and expenditure, managing a budget of approximately £7 Billion. To do this successfully the Permanent Secretary will have the breadth and depth of experience to fulfil the significant Accounting Officer responsibilities, including the ability to interact confidently and expertly with HM Treasury counterparts.
• Provides strong engaging leadership to the department by translating Ministers’ ambitions into a clear vision to our people, setting a clear direction for that vision and ensuring it is organised, resourced and motivated to support Ministers effectively, and deliver their key priorities.
• Drives reform and transformation, providing strong change leadership to optimise opportunities, focused on organisational reform, embedding innovation and adopting greater flexibility and agility in ways of working to deliver operational efficiencies.
• Motivates and engages staff to develop their capability and is a role model for the values of the Civil Service, reinforcing and supporting a culture of continuous improvement, high performance and excellent delivery.
• Works with the departments Arm’s Length Bodies, ensuring they use their resources effectively in the delivery of the government’s aims.
  
  

The Permanent Secretary is the lead adviser to the Secretary of State; they represent the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the highest level.

Specifically, The Permanent Secretary:

• Acts as the primary policy adviser to the Secretary of State and his Ministerial team in setting the overall strategy and policy for the Department, ensuring it is cost effective, evidence-based and achievable.
• As Accounting Officer, is accountable to Parliament for the Department’s performance and expenditure, managing a budget of approximately £7 Billion. To do this successfully the Permanent Secretary will have the breadth and depth of experience to fulfil the significant Accounting Officer responsibilities, including the ability to interact confidently and expertly with HM Treasury counterparts.
• Provides strong engaging leadership to the department by translating Ministers’ ambitions into a clear vision to our people, setting a clear direction for that vision and ensuring it is organised, resourced and motivated to support Ministers effectively, and deliver their key priorities.
• Drives reform and transformation, providing strong change leadership to optimise opportunities, focused on organisational reform, embedding innovation and adopting greater flexibility and agility in ways of working to deliver operational efficiencies.
• Motivates and engages staff to develop their capability and is a role model for the values of the Civil Service, reinforcing and supporting a culture of continuous improvement, high performance and excellent delivery.
• Works with the departments Arm’s Length Bodies, ensuring they use their resources effectively in the delivery of the government’s aims.
  
  

Person specification

To Help You Succeed In This Role, You Must Have a Strong Commitment To The Civil Service Values Of Impartiality, Honesty, Integrity And Objectivity, And You Will Likely Have The Following Essential Criteria:

• The ability to secure the confidence of Ministers and senior leaders in developing and delivering complex policy and strategy alongside a successful track record of working collaboratively across organisations;
• Well-developed political judgement with experience of working closely with senior stakeholders, whilst providing constructive challenge and candid advice;
• Exceptional strategic capability and the resilience to work under sustained pressure and scrutiny and lead through ambiguity;
• Experience and confidence in managing large and complex budgets and for maintaining strong, effective governance arrangements to drive efficiency and value for money; and,
• Confident, inclusive and engaging leadership skills, with a proven commitment to inclusive leadership, with exceptional capability to lead others through transformational organisational change.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £170,000, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £49,249 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

To apply please submit the following documents to [email protected] copying in [email protected] by no later than 23:55 on Thursday 19 June:

• Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history, and details where possible of budgets and numbers of people.
• A short covering statement of no more than two A4 sized pages (1000 words) explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘relevant experience’ section on page six.
• A Diversity Questionnaire: The Civil Service is committed to achieving a workforce that reflects the society it serves, at all levels including the most senior. Collecting this information enables us to identify whether we are recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent and check that all groups are being treated fairly throughout the process. This form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application. Please complete the attached form at Annex A. Please note that applications will not be accepted unless the form is returned. If you do not wish to provide a response to a particular question, you should complete the ‘prefer not to say’ option.
• A completed Declaration of Interests form - please complete the form attached at Annex B. Please note that applications will not be accepted unless the form is returned.
• Details of two referees - these will only be contacted for shortlisted candidates, and not without prior notice.
  
  

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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 meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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.

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 : Jo Whitehead
• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]