Ministry of Justice

Job title: Head of Statistics & Analysis

Number of Roles to be advertised: 1

Directorate/Business Unit/Team: Statistics and Analysis Team, Business Intelligence and Insights Directorate

Grade: G7

Role Type: Analysis, Statistics, Leadership

Salary band: National:  £58,931, London: £63,798

New entrants are normally expected to join on the minimum of the pay band

Responsible to: Director of Business Intelligence & Insights

Base/location: YJB is National by Default.

National (North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, Midlands, East Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Wales)

YJB Roles are contractually based at the nearest MoJ Collaboration or Satellite Centre but YJB staff work flexibly, including from their homes.

FTE/hours (Full-Time/Part-time/Flexible Working): Full-time – 37 hours

Job type (i.e., fixed term/permanent/loan/secondment): Permanent

Duration of appointment – months. (for fixed term, secondment, loan etc): N/A

Security Clearance Required: Baseline (BPSS) Checks

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has recently been subject to a Public Bodies Review and an Arms-Length Bodies Review. As a result, some of the YJB’s statutory and operational functions will transfer to the Ministry of Justice. Going forward, the YJB will focus on driving continuous improvement across the youth justice system and maintaining oversight of effective and evidence based practice within Youth Justice Services. To support this future purpose, the YJB will undertake an organisational restructure during 2026/27, resulting in a reduced number of posts. All roles, including this one, will be included for consideration as part of the restructure.

Who are we?

The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) is the public body which advises Ministers, including the Secretary of State for Justice on the youth justice system. Our ambition is to see a Child First youth justice system. A system which looks to children’s’ strengths and supports children to become the best version of themselves. To this effect we engage with a wide variety of organisations, partners and parties with an interest in youth justice; we share good practice, champion improvement and issue grants.

Our Vision

Working to ensure a youth justice system that sees children as children, treats them fairly and helps them to build on their strengths so they can make a constructive contribution to society. This will prevent offending and create safer communities with fewer victims.

Aims of the Youth Justice System

Prevention of offending by children and young people:

• To reduce the number of children in the youth justice system
• To reduce reoffending by children in the youth justice system 
• To improve the safety and wellbeing of children in the youth justice system
• To improve outcomes of children in the youth justice system

Thinking of joining us?

 Our recruitment is based on merit, we welcome applications from all who can commit to our vision and values, we offer considerable flexibility in how you work and expect commitment and flexibility in return. We continue to strive for equity, diversity and inclusion in our culture and our staff group.  To this end we very much encourage applications from those people with protected characteristics. Our staff are public servants, eligible for the Civil Service pension scheme and we are accredited by the Civil Service Commission.  This means applications from across Civil Service Departments, their agencies and Arms-Length Bodies are treated as internal applicants.  We also welcome applications from those who do not currently work in these bodies or the public sector.

Role purpose:

The Head of Statistics and Analysis is responsible for leading and driving a multi-disciplinary team of analysts to help support and deliver high quality analysis for the YJB and enable oversight of the Youth Justice System. You will have analytical experience and skills to build capability and support your team in driving evidence-based decisions across YJB so that the organisation can harness our data to make better decisions, mitigate operational risks and drive improvement. You will have leadership and collaborative working skills to identify and support priorities that help decision making at all levels of YJB.

Please note that going forward, some of the areas of responsibility of this role may be subject to change when some of the YJB’s statutory and operational functions transfer to the Ministry of Justice and the YJB moves towards a focus on driving continuous improvement across the youth justice system. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-modern-youth-justice-service-foundations-fit-for-the-future

Role context:

• The YJB is the only public body with oversight of the whole youth justice system. Evidence and Intelligence is key to our understanding of the youth justice landscape. This supports effective decision making, gives assurance to ministers that our advice has a solid evidence base and supports the achievement of our strategic objectives.
• The Business Intelligence and Insights Directorate gathers and interprets information from a range of sources (including data, research, and wider intelligence). This information supports: the YJB’s oversight of the Youth Justice System (YJS), helps us to understand how the system is operating and whether it is achieving its aims, and helps to identify future opportunities and challenges for children and the YJS. The directorate leads the organisation in gathering, developing, and using data and evidence well.
• The Statistics and Analysis team set the annual data reporting requirements and gather and collate hard data. They analyse this, along with other data sources, to identify the key themes/issues coming out. Production of key documents include the quarterly Youth Data Summary for Youth Justice Services, and the annual publications of the Youth Justice Annual Statistics and the Data Recording Requirements.

Key activities and relationships

This is a leadership as well as a management role. You will:

• Support the achievement of the YJB strategic and business plan through your leadership role, both within your directorate and across the wider YJB.
• Have a lead role in organisational change initiatives and ensuring data and analysis activity continues to deliver against organisational priorities over time
• Manage and develop the Statistics & Analysis Team – a team of currently 4-5 SEO analysts (who you will line manage), 2-3 HEO analysts with support from a Business Support EO.
• Work collaboratively across the directorate, the organisation and the youth justice sector to understand our evidence and to make sure it is fit-for-purpose and that we have the most effective analytical tools.
• Lead your team to deliver business critical projects and/or programmes including scoping, planning, monitoring and controlling these projects or leading on complex business delivery areas.
• Be responsible for significant operational, multi-disciplinary or complex delivery areas of work, with a range of responsibilities relating to the management of the YJB’s data, analysis, and statistics functions.
• Encourage a culture of evidence-based decision making.
• Be proactive in promoting the appropriate use of statistics / evidence in the YJB and with the sector.
• Identify data and statistical needs from across YJB, prioritising effectively.
• Deputise for the Director of Business Intelligence and Insights in their absence
• At all times, demonstrate support and respect for the YJBs commitment to equity, inclusivity and the diversity of the YJB and its partners.
• Be responsible for making sure you understand and adhere to your responsibilities in relation to health and safety and data protection.
• Work positively and collaboratively with colleagues in both England and YJB Cymru and will consider the impact of developments on policy, practice, and legislation specific to Wales.
• Work flexibly. All posts within the YJB operate flexibly to make sure the requirements of the business are met and as such you may be required to undertake other duties in your role or duties in other parts of the business at your grade to meet business priorities

Your role in overseeing the collection, analysis and publication of statistics will involve making sure they:

• meet Government Statistical Service (GSS) processes and quality standards;
• are based on sound methodologies;
• presented in a clear and accessible way which meet our users’ needs.

Main Responsibilities

• Provide positive leadership by encouraging positive emotions and positive social exchanges in the workplace. Set high expectations and live up to them. Make sure you deliver on the commitments you make. Value the contribution of others and nurture positive relationships as well as skills and professional development
• Lead, develop and manage the YJB Statistics and Analysis team. Inspiring your team to achieve their potential and making sure that they engage positively with organisational policies, processes and communications. Helping them to interpret these when required.
• Accountable for providing statistical advice and ensuring our statistics adhere to the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
• Leading the YJB Statistics & Analysis team to advise and drive on high-profile/priority work for the YJB and Ministers across Government. Ensuring accurate reporting on the performance and oversight of the Youth Justice System.
• Accountable for ensuring that YJB has access to the data it requires, in a timely, fit for purpose and streamlined way.
• Accountable for ensuring those data are analysed, interpreted, and used to inform the whole system monitoring, assess YJS  and support the YJB’s strategic objectives.
• Responsible for building relationships with other analysts and data providers across UK governments and beyond

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Civil Service Success Profiles,

The assessment process will be made up of two parts:

1. An Application (see below)
2. Interview (see below)

Application Stage:

Please provide:

• CV
• A written example demonstrating in no more than 250 words for the following civil service behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture (250 words), and
• A suitability statement (no more than 750 words) of how you meet the ‘Essential criteria: Technical, Experience and Ability’ as outlined in the job description.

Interview

For candidates who get to the interview stage it will be a blended interview covering the Civil Service behaviours, and strengths and technical skills as described in the Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (this is a very particular style of interview please make sure you make yourself aware of these in advance). While GSG membership is not a requirement of the role, the technical skill assessment will draw on the Competency framework for the Government Statistician Group (GSG) – Government Analysis Function

The behaviours assessed at interview will be:

• Seeing the Big Picture (Lead Behaviour) - Application and Interview
• Making Effective Decisions - Interview
• Communicating and Influencing – Interview

The technical skill assessed at interview will be:

• Acquiring data and understanding customer needs

Reserve List

Those candidates who successfully demonstrate at interview, the behaviours, strengths, and essential criteria required by YJB for the role, but who are not selected as the successful candidate, may be added to a reserve list for 12 months. Candidates on a reserve list may be contacted and offered a role which is sufficiently similar, without further need for application, within the timeframe.

Essential Criteria

Skills and knowledge

1. Technical: 

• This post is available to anyone with the relevant experiences, skills and behaviours (set out below), but welcomes members of the Government Statistical Group (GSG) profession.
• A good understanding of the National Statistics protocols and procedures (e.g. Code of Practice for Statistics).
• Strong analytical skills in collecting data to meet user needs and interpreting and presenting complex findings in a clear and concise way.

2. Experience: 

• Experience of working with, understanding and utilising complex data and databases and adhering to data governance and quality requirements.
• Experience using analysis to support organisational priorities influence decision making at senior levels.
• Experience of building and maintaining relationships across government and / or with external stakeholders

3. Ability:

• Good presentation and communication skills, especially in demonstrating or explaining complex methods or evidence to non-specialist audiences.
• Competent in MS Office suite, including advanced Excel skills, and familiar with tools for analysis, visualisation and reporting (e.g. R, SQL, Power BI, Tableau or equivalent).
• Ability to manage business-critical delivery across multiple workstreams and prioritise competing demands where necessary.
• Ability to build inclusive, high-performing team cultures

4. Behaviours: link to civil service success profiles Behaviours

• Seeing the Big Picture (Lead Behaviour) - Application and Interview
• Making Effective Decisions - Interview
• Communicating and Influencing - Interview

Benefits of working for the Youth Justice Board

• Opportunity to work in an organisation that seeks to make a positive difference to the lives of children at risk of entering and within the youth justice system
• Family friendly policies including flexible working opportunities. Many of our staff combine working from our offices in either London or Wales, or working from one of the Ministry of Justice Collaboration Centres/Satellite Offices throughout the country, with working from home; compressed hours, part-time working
• Civil Service Pension Scheme, and/or continuous service transfer of Civil Service Pension Scheme as applicable
• Annual leave of 25 days per annum plus public holidays (or for those transferring directly on a lateral move from Civil Service Departments, their Agencies, Arms-Length Bodies (ALBs) and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB) we may, subject to confirmation, match current annual leave entitlement, up to 30 days
• As an accredited NDPB we may, subject to confirmation, accept your continuous service from other Civil Service departments their agencies and ALBs/NDBPs (however all new joiners join on 37 hours per week/ pro-rata for part-time)
• Special recognition bonus scheme
• Special leave for unplanned emergencies and for voluntary work
• Employee Assistance Programme offering confidential support and advice for personal and work issues and occupational health
• Health and well-being initiatives such as flu-vaccinations
• Free eye tests and eyecare vouchers for VDU workers
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Regular professional development
• Professional HR Case Management support for managers