Leadership roles within the Ministerial Priorities Unit

Private Office, Grade 6 (up to 2 posts)

Ministry of Justice

We are recruiting for two Grade 6 positions within the Ministerial Priorities Unit, as Head of Policy and Delivery in Private Office.

This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs.

Location

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

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:
•    Full-time or the option to job share
•    Flexible working patterns
•    Flexible working arrangements between base locations and home.

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.  

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 £12 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.

The team - Ministerial Priorities Unit

You will be working in the Ministerial Priorities Unit (MPU). The MPU is based in Ministerial Private Office, in the Ministry of Justice. The role of the MPU is to support Ministers to identify, articulate and deliver on their priorities.

This covers the full range of the Department’s priorities, including criminal, civil, family and administrative justice; criminal and civil law; the court system, court recovery, legal aid and support and the legal services sector; the prison and probation systems, and offender policy; the youth justice system; the UK’s domestic human rights framework and international obligations. It includes supporting financial decision-making - the allocations of resources within the Department and then within its agencies - so that funding follows ministerial priorities.

The MPU is part of the wider team in Ministerial Private Offices. This means working in a fast-paced environment, with a wide range of stakeholders, from policy team in the MoJ to agencies in the department, technology, finance and strategy teams.

The role - Head of Policy Development and Private Office

You will be responsible for providing a high-quality, private office service to the Ministerial Team and wider Department. You will develop a deep understanding of Ministers’ core priorities - and how they want them articulated and implemented. This will allow you to credibly represent the Minister with the wider Department. In so doing, you will support the Department to understand what ministers are working towards - including their reasoning and their views on implementation. And you will support Ministers to set priorities and scrutinise policy and delivery plans.

You will lead through others, starting with highly collaborative relationships Private Secretaries, Deputy Private Secretaries and others in Private Office - who are responsible for commissioning the Department and work closely with policy and operational teams. You will support them to reflect ministerial priorities in their work.

Your relationships with Policy Officials and Senior Leaders in the MoJ’s agencies will be critical. You will be trusted with information and recognised as someone who will listen and problem solve as well as provide challenge where needed. This may mean drawing connections across issues, policy teams and delivery agencies - helping unlock issues when they become ‘stuck’, including removing barriers standing in officials’ way.

You will work closely with Special Advisors (SpAds) in the Department. You will focus largely on longer-term ministerial priorities, working closely with the Department to deliver them. Having developed a deep relationship with SpAds you will help the Department understand the political steers behind ministerial priorities.

Alongside longer running pieces of work - likely to be focused on large delivery or reform programmes - you will undertake short, sharp pieces of work. These might be focused on rapidly emerging, high-profile issues which demand close ministerial attention - or when there are opportunities that ministers want a quick response to.

In all these areas, your role will not be to do the work of Private Secretaries or the wider Department, but rather to ensure that Ministerial priorities are reflected in policy, financial allocations and delivery plans.

The role is about leading through others outside of your hierarchy, including working directly with the most Senior Leaders in the MoJ and its agencies. The role does not include line management at present though there may be scope for this in the future. You will also contribute to improving the life of the wider Directorate and/or Department through a corporate objective.

Key accountabilities

• Lead on policy coordination for the Minister’s portfolio, ensuring alignment with departmental objectives.

• Work closely with Special Advisers and senior officials to manage priorities and deadlines.

• Provide strategic advice on emerging issues, risks, and opportunities.

• Represent the Minister and Private Office in senior meetings and maintain strong relationships across directorates.

• Mentor and support junior staff within the Private Office.

Skills and Experience

The postholder will need to be able to demonstrate the following skills: 

• Leadership - You are a credible leader who can command the confidence and trust of ministers as well as Senior Leaders in the MoJ and its Agencies. You are confident at setting direction and credibly driving forward priorities by delivering through others, outside of your immediate team. You are collaborative and capable of providing constructive challenge to others when required.

• Relationship building and stakeholder management skills - You build and maintain strong and positive relationships with stakeholders at all levels, and you leverage those relationships to deliver your priorities.

• Excellent judgment and problem-solving skills - You quickly see to the heart of a problem and resolve issues quickly and confidently. You make sound judgements, identify emerging issues, and plan ahead to anticipate risks and proactively put mitigations in place.

• Prioritisation - You are confident juggling a large number of issues and priorities at once. You work well under pressure, prioritise effectively, and maintain attention to detail.

• Communication skills - You are an excellent communicator, able to provide clear advice, briefings and other materials to senior stakeholders and Ministers.

• Political and organisational awareness - You have a strong understanding of the wider political and organisational context. Ideally, you have an understanding of the justice system and the key issues impacting it.

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.

Application process

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

Experience

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

Statement of suitability

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words setting out what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership

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

Candidates invited to Interview

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to meet the Directors General informally before their interview.

Please note that interviews will be carried out in person.

During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the Success Profiles framework.

The behaviours being assessed at interview are:

• Leadership

• Communicating and influencing

• Delivering at pace

• Seeing the Big Picture

The interview panel will also ask some Strengths questions. 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 January-February 2025.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. Please contact the hiring manager duncan.oleary@justice.gov.uk for more information.

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.