Ministry of Justice

Background

The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.

The Northern Ireland Office employs around 170 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.

Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.

Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:

• Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
• Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, where terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
• Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
• Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland

For more information about what we do:

Visit:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/northern-ireland-office https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice.

About The Role:

This is an exciting, varied role at the very heart of the Northern Ireland Office. You will join a friendly, high achieving private office team, where no two days are the same. We are looking for someone with a positive, can-do attitude who is ready to get stuck in to support the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (PUSS). This is a role that is stretching and will give you a high level of exposure to the inner workings of a Ministerial Private Office.

As the PUSS’ dedicated Diary Secretary, you will have overall responsibility for their diary management. You will be working across the wider team to coordinate their diary, manage invitations, and organise all logistics for visits. As an Assistant Private Secretary in the Office, you will support the Private Office with the production of the PUSS’ daily pack, and take a lead on portfolio areas for the PUSS including Security and Protection, Ceremonial, Governance and External Affairs. You will also support the Correspondence Manager with the correspondence process for the PUSS, including proactively managing incoming and outgoing correspondence for the Department. If needed, you will also provide additional PS and diary support to the NIO’s Lords Spokesperson during busy periods.

This is a role that will be suited to someone organised, communicative, and attentive to detail. Things can change at the last minute so you should be adaptable and patient. The team can be very busy so you will also need to be able to make informed decisions independently and with confidence. That said, you will be supported by two private secretaries and wider colleagues in the Secretary of State’s Private Office, all of whom are working together to deliver the best possible service to Ministers and the Department.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:

• Leading on the diary of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, with overall responsibility for all logistics and invites.
• Working with the Private Office to coordinate the Minister’s daily briefing pack, and to submit advice to the box.
• Working with the Correspondence Manager to track and manage the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State’s Correspondence.
• Leading on External Affairs, by working with the Visits and Comms teams to plan and commission strategic visits for PUSS. You would also lead on organising travel and join the rota for taking part in Ministerial visits with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
• Leading on the Security and Protection portfolio for the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, working with the team and security partners to manage all security signing slots and firearms appeals.
• Leading on the Ceremonial aspects of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State’s role.
• Leading on Governance for the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
• Leading on office management for the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
• Provide additional diary and PS support to the NIO Lord’s Spokesperson as required, including making travel arrangements.

Essential Criteria:

The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:

• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to work effectively across a range of tasks.
• The ability to manage competing demands and priorities, remaining calm under pressure. An excellent work ethic and positivity, with a can-do, problem-solving mentality;
• The ability to build strong relationships with a range of stakeholders internal and external to Government, including Senior Civil Servants and colleagues in other departments;
• The ability to deliver messages that can be difficult at times, especially when plans change at the last minute, with a range of senior stakeholders.

Desirable Criteria:

• An understanding of the Northern Ireland political system and the work of the Northern Ireland Executive would be advantageous, but is not essential;
• Previous experience of diary management.

Behaviours:

We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at the HEO level during the application sift and interview process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Experience:

Please provide a CV and statement of suitability no longer than 750 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.

If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. 

You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here.

Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour “Communicating and Influencing.”

Interview:

You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:   

• WHO-What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
• STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.  

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.

The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered.  Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

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

Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Further Information:

Further information about the post may be obtained from Beth Lynas via email to Beth.Lynas@nio.gov.uk.

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.

Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.

Complaints:

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.  Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.

Please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk) in the first instance. If 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://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/

Reserve Lists:

In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact

MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com to be removed from the reserve list.