Ministry of Justice

HMPPS is committed to expanding the number of UK prison places to meet expected increases in demand over the coming five years. This incorporates several projects and programmes that aim to maintain and expand capacity by building brand new prisons, expand existing prisons, carry out major refurbishments, and deploy short-term and temporary accommodation; In addition to this we are managing the exit from and transfer of contracts for existing privately managed prisons. This work will keep available and improve thousands of existing prison places and deliver a vital component of the Criminal Justice System.

The role of the Private Prison Expiry & Transfer Project & New Prisons Programme within the Prison Supply Directorate (PSD) is to manage the successful delivery of three key areas:

• Leading the delivery of the additional prison places: including new prisons, house blocks, major refurbishments, small scale investments. 14,000 new places will be delivered through a combination of four new prisons (providing around 6,500 places), new houseblocks at existing prisons (about 6,400 places), rapid deployment cells (1,000 places), and refurbishment of existing cells (over 1,000 places)
• Operator Competitions: in the event of a decision to compete new or existing Prisons including existing privately managed prisons where their contracts are due to expire and designing and running a competition in line with Government Procurement Regulations.
• Expiry and Transfer of Private Finance Initiative (PFI)/existing Private Prisons: planning and delivering the safe, efficient and effective transfer of existing private prisons (PFI and Manage & Maintain arrangements) following a competition process to a new provider once the contracts expire.

The project is currently delivering its third tranche of competitions, which covers HMP Dovegate (Staffordshire), HMP & YOI Doncaster (South Yorkshire), HMP Oakwood (West Midlands). It is also developing a new Prison Operator Services Framework to streamline the delivery of future private prison competitions.

Job Summary

The relevant job description has been provided alongside this EOI (HQ-JES-2152_Generic - Business Manager_2.0). A summary of how the generic requirements of the JD translate to the day-to-day activity associated with this role is set out below.

Reporting to the Senior Competitions Manager, the New Prison Capacity Support Team and Logistics Manager will be required to lead a team of 6-8 people that supports all core work across the above areas. The role holder will manage a team providing project and administrative support to these areas and may take the lead on certain aspects of the design work, logistics and planning, providing advice on complex or high-profile issues. They may also provide support to ongoing work under others key areas, as required.

These areas are subject to a significant level of scrutiny and require sensitive handling of a wide range of external and internal stakeholders. To support this work the post holder must be able to build relationships with an array of key collaborators and stakeholders including those Commercial and Contract Management teams, wider HMPPS and MoJ Policy teams, HMPPS in Wales, Prison Operator Services Framework providers and other external companies.

Our work is in a high profile and demanding area, with regular Ministerial scrutiny. We work closely with colleagues across HMPPS and wider MoJ, along with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Cabinet Office and NHS England and Innovation and other health providers. The successful candidate will be expected to work collaboratively with all partners, communicate clearly and work at pace to deliver expected outcomes.

The most important elements of the role include:

1. Resource Allocation
   It’s essential to ensure that all critical activities are adequately supported by the team. This involves having oversight of the broader team’s workload - knowing which support team members are assigned to which tasks, estimating the time commitment required for each area, and being aware of upcoming leave so that meetings and responsibilities are covered. The aim is to distribute work fairly and maintain continuity. Regular 1-2-1s and Support Team meetings are vital for maintaining this visibility and understanding.
2. Planning
   Effective planning is particularly important given the challenges of high staff turnover and limited resources. Closely linked to resource management, this means keeping track of the upcoming workload and being ready to reallocate support as project demands shift. It’s important to consider how moving resources will affect the rest of the team, coordinate with project leads, manage agency staff contract end dates, and liaise with Project Delivery regarding recruitment needs.
3. Team Training and Management
   Effective Line Management and fostering the right dynamics within the support team is crucial for maintaining a positive working environment and ensuring high standards. This involves fostering open communication, encouraging collaboration, and proactively addressing any interpersonal issues that may arise. Alongside this, it’s important to assure the quality of work delivered by the team, through regular feedback, peer review, and clear expectations. Standardising processes and documentation to help ensure consistency, reduce errors, and make it easier for team members to step into different roles as needed. Regularly reviewing and refining these processes, and sharing best practice across the team, supports continuous improvement and helps maintain a high level of service

Other general duties include:

To manage and support the admin team day-to-day and longer term. This includes:

• Co-ordinating workload and priorities to ensure tasks are allocated fairly and aligned with business needs.
• Supporting performance, wellbeing, and development, including 1:1s, providing feedback, and supporting growth opportunities for Support Team members.
• Regular feedback discussions with Task Managers.
• Being the first point of contact for admin task requests, support needs, and any issues or concerns.
• Monitoring progress and capacity, resolving workload pressures or delays where needed.
• Managing leave and availability across the Support Team so support can be planned effectively.

Key Responsibilities

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties: 

• Establish and maintain a good working relationship with, the Chief Executive and other NOMS Directors, Heads of Groups, Ministers Offices, Press Office, the offices of MoJ Directors and key stakeholders.
• Ensure the Deputy Director/Head of Group is informed of priority matters where necessary, is involved in decision making at the appropriate level and has sufficient information and advice to help him operate effectively (oversight but not necessarily handling of all papers and correspondence).
• Monitoring of the Groups business plan, people plan, business continuity plans and maintaining the workforce planner. Develop and own the group training plan. 
• Lead group communications including drafting of notes to staff and the quarterly all staff bulletin.
• Secretariat for the Group Senior Management Team, preparing management information and reports, participating at meetings and following up on actions.
• Drafting letters, submissions and reports on behalf of the Deputy Director/Head of Group.
• Carrying out projects and pieces of work on behalf of the Deputy Director/Head of Group when required. 
• Make decisions on behalf of the Deputy Director/Head of Group within predetermined authority levels. Assessing requests from the business in terms of priority and content, taking the appropriate action and only escalating those items which require the Deputy  Director’s/Head of Groups attention.
• Work with the FOI/PQ Coordinator to manage the Directorate’s responses to PQs/FOI/ Ministers cases etc. Reviewing draft responses for consistency and completeness prior to final sign off by the Deputy Director’s/Head of Groups. 
• Daily management of the Director’s inbox, prioritising emails to ensure that the Director is sighted on the priority issues, responding on his behalf and dealing with emails as required. Effectively manage the Director’s diary on a short, medium and long-term basis.
• Manage and maintain the Directorate Delivery Plan, ensuring that key activities are delivered to the required time frames, highlighting issues and dealing with these accordingly.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the Job Holder.