Ministry of Justice

Job Title & Grade:  Senior Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Officer, HEO

Contract Type:  Fixed Term - 12 Months

Salary range (depending on location):

National - £34,140 to £37,105

London - £38,661 to £42,019

Please note that unless you are currently employed by the Civil Service and are earning more than the minimum above, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.

Location:

National- Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, South Tyneside

Directorate:  Corporate Services

Team:  Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team

Working Pattern:

The post is supported by the MOJ flexible working policy and includes colleagues who work flexibly, remotely (as part of hybrid working), part time or as part of a job share etc.

If you are applying for a part time role, please note that in order to meet business demands we need cover for a minimum of 29 hours and to cover 4 days of the week

To meet legal requirements, if you are between the ages 16-18 and you are a successful candidate, you will be required to complete an apprenticeship after your initial on the job training.

Reporting to:  Head of Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team

The Legal Aid Agency

We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We are responsible for operationally administering the legal aid fund to provide criminal and civil legal aid advice to people in England and Wales.

Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.

Our LAA commitment to 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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. Under the Equality Act 2010 a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.

If you are responding to a role within the Legal Aid Agency and would like to be considered under the guaranteed interview, please indicate this in your application and let us know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the sift or later selection processes.

The LAA’s goal is to build an organisation that is open and inclusive and truly values and celebrates the diversity of its workforce. One that reflects and understands the needs of the diverse society we serve. This is regardless of social background, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, beliefs, disabilities or long-term illness or caring responsibilities.

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments to support you through the recruitment process, please let us know by adding the information to the applications system or emailing LAARecruitment@justice.gov.uk after you have applied so that we can discuss options with you.

Corporate Services

The Corporate Services Directorate helps shape and enable the priorities of the Chief Executive, Executive Leadership Team and People Committee to be delivered. The Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team forms part of the Chief Executive's (CE) Office within Corporate Services Directorate. The work is business critical and has a direct internal (within the LAA and wider MoJ) and external impact upon CE and LAA reputation.

Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team

The Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team is responsible for a broad portfolio of reputationally sensitive and complex correspondence and disclosure related issues, on behalf of the Chief Executive and legal aid Ministers. This includes dealing with correspondence from MPs and Ministers, other justice stakeholders and members of the public, leading on LAA contributions to Ministerial Correspondence, responding to requests under the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act and drafting responses to Parliamentary Questions, submitted by Peers and MPs, on behalf of Ministers. The work undertaken by the team is fundamental to maintaining and enhancing the reputation of the Chief Executive and the LAA within the Ministry of Justice, across Government, with external stakeholders and members of the public.

Job Summary

The postholder will cover a broad portfolio spread across the various workstreams within the team as demand necessitates. This approach to resourcing the teams ensures the development of varied roles within the CE’s Office with staff that are skilled across more than one business discipline where the skills, processes and knowledge are complementary.

The post-holder may also be required, where appropriate, to take on other responsibilities from across the wider CE’s Office.

All aspects of this role involve building strong networks across the LAA and wider MoJ to deal with a range of legislative and correspondence issues, often including complex and reputationally sensitive issues. The post-holder will play a key role driving business improvements across the LAA and will contribute to wider MoJ and cross government subject matter forums.

The post holder will be responsible for commissioning reports from key internal stakeholders on a wide variety of issues in relation to correspondence received in the CEO’s Office and ensuring correspondence and correspondence related contributions issued are drafted to a high standard. They will take the lead in drafting correspondence sent out in the CEO’s name to a range of stakeholders including members of the public, legal aid providers, other key stakeholders in the justice system and members of parliament. The post-holder will also be responsible for collating LAA contributions to ministerial correspondence, working closely with the Ministerial Correspondence Unit and Private Offices.

The post-holder will monitor and provide advice to the LAA on complex and/or high profile Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Data Protection Act (DPA) requests, ensuring responses comply with statutory requirements. They will also coordinate and prepare draft responses to PQs and arrange approval of responses with Senior Executives as appropriate.

Key Responsibilities:

• The post-holder will play a vital role in assisting the Head of Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team to deliver an effective, efficient and professional correspondence and disclosure process, deputising where necessary.
• Commission reports and collate contributions from a range of key internal stakeholders to assist in the drafting of high-quality correspondence in the CEO’s name to Members of Parliament and Ministers.
• Coordinate and draft LAA contributions to Ministerial correspondence and Parliamentary Questions, with support from the SEO.
• Draft high-quality responses to various forms of direct correspondence from Members of Parliament, members of the public, legal aid providers and other key stakeholders received by the CE’s office.
• Lead on complex and/or high-profile complaints referred to the Team in line with the Complaints Handling SOP. Including investigating, drafting responses and providing feedback to teams/recommending business improvements.
• Investigate and write reports to the CE and Principal Legal Advisor in connection with high value compensation claims.
• Assist Head of CE’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team with live PHSO investigations deputising for Head of Team where appropriate.
• Assist Head of CE’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team to improve quality of complaints and correspondence by assisting in production of training, attending complaints forum and identifying key themes and trends and providing feedback to help drive business improvements across the LAA.
• Liaise with MoJ Disclosure Team and other Knowledge and Information Liaison Officers across the MoJ in order to ensure a joined up response is provided from MoJ to requests for information from stakeholders.
• Lead on and co-ordinate response to all FOI requests, ensuring responses comply with FOI Act, are cleared through appropriate channels and are completed within the statutory time limit of 20 working days.
• Lead on and co-ordiante responses to all trigger DPA requests, ensuring responses comply with DPA, are cleared through appropriate channels and completed within the statutory time limit of 30 calendar days.
• Support EO to lead on and co-ordinate responses to all non-trigger DPA requests, ensuring responses comply with DPA, are cleared through appropriate channels and completed within the statutory time limit of 30 calendar days.
• Monitor and provide advice to LAA on any disclosure issues arising from FOI/DPA and disclosure requests outside FOI/DPA liaising with Central Legal Team as required.
• Prepare training materials and draft guidance for the business and participate in delivering training to the LAA, to assist the business with correspondence and/or disclosure related issues.
• Monitor compliance with best practice and devise or revise policies, procedures and guidance in liaison with other KILOs, PQ teams, LAA stakeholders the MoJ, and across government in order to ensure continuous improvement.
• Produce, maintain and review Standard Operating Procedures for all areas of work within the team.
• Work closely with MoJ’s Press Office and LAA’s External Communications Team to produce press lines for queries in connection with high profile correspondence or Freedom of Information Requests.
• Provide support, training and guidance to EO. Role may include direct line management responsibilities for EO.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Effective communication skills both written and verbal;
• Effective drafting skills to ensure the delivery of high-quality correspondence on a range of issues;
• Effective interpersonal and influencing skills to engage and build relationships with key stakeholders;
• The ability to prioritise effectively to deliver quickly and successfully to tight deadlines;
• Confidence in decision-making, exercising sound judgement, and the ability to challenge others in a constructive manner appropriate to the situation;
• Ability to understand and apply applicable statutory framework and guidance.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Experience of working for Senior Leaders (including or equivalent to Chair, Non-Executives, Chief Executive, Senior Executives, Ministers);
• Knowledge of key legal aid legislation and processes;
• Knowledge of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018, and/or Parliamentary Questions;
• Familiarity with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s principles of good administration.

Person Specification

• Enjoys working in a fast-changing, demand led environment.
• Is proactive and enjoys a varied workload.
• Is customer focussed and keen to contribute to business improvements.
• Is confident working autonomously and exercising judgment.

Assessment approach

Application Process –

To apply complete an application based of the following behaviours, each behaviour should be no more than 250 words:

Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)

Examples of communicating and influencing at HEO and SEO grades or equivalent are when you:

• communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner - choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact
• encourage the use of different communication methods, including digital resources and highlight the benefits, including ensuring cost effectiveness
• ensure communication has a clear purpose and takes into account people’s individual needs
• share information as appropriate and check understanding
• show positivity and enthusiasm towards work, encouraging others to do the same
• ensure that important messages are communicated with colleagues and stakeholders respectfully, taking into consideration the diversity of interests

Delivering at Pace

Examples of delivering at pace at HEO and SEO grades or equivalent are when you:

• show a positive approach to keeping the whole team’s efforts focused on the top priorities
• promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation
• ensure the most appropriate resources are available for colleagues to use to do their job effectively
• regularly monitor your own and team’s work against milestones ensuring individual needs are considered when setting tasks
• act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance
• allow individuals the space and authority to meet objectives, providing additional support where necessary, whilst keeping overall responsibility

Working Together

Examples of working together at HEO and SEO grades or equivalent are when you:

• encourage joined up team work within your own team and across other groups
• establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders
• collaborate with these to share information, resources and support
• invest time to develop a common focus and genuine positive team spirit where colleagues feel valued and respect one another
• put in place support for the wellbeing of individuals within the team, including consideration of your own needs
• make it clear to all team members that bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable
• actively seek and consider input of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives

Making Effective Decisions

Examples of making effective decisions at HEO and SEO grades or equivalent are when you:

• understand your own level of responsibility and empower others to make decisions where appropriate
• analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions
• invite challenge and where appropriate involve others in decision making
• display confidence when making difficult decisions, even if they prove to be unpopular
• consult with others to ensure the potential impacts on end users have been considered
• present strong recommendations in a timely manner outlining the consideration of other options, costs, benefits and risks

When submitting an example of a behaviour remember to include the situation, what you did and why, and what was the outcome / result.

Please note that if we have a large number of applications will we do an initial sift on the Communicating and Influencing behaviour.

Interview / assessment Process

If you are successful through the application stage, you will be invited to an interview / assessment centre in person or via Microsoft Teams where you will be assessed against the following:

Strengths relevant to the role

Some or all of the following Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing (Lead Behaviour)
• Delivering at Pace  
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Your Experience of implementing, promoting, or understanding diversity and inclusion policy - Diversity is the presence of difference, this can include one or more of the protected characteristics (Gender, Age, Race, Disability etc.) or it can be about working patterns, whether we like to jump into a task or reflect on it before acting. Inclusion is how we welcome, value, and celebrate diversity, giving everyone a voice, tapping into ideas, and enabling everyone to be themselves at work and achieve their potential.

For this grade/ role we would expect the candidate to demonstrate understanding of the terms Diversity and Inclusion and be able to explain why they are important to them, their team and to where they work. We would also expect examples of action they have taken (in or outside of work) to embrace diversity (e.g., increasing understanding) or improve inclusion at a team or group level.

A practical exercise to assess drafting skills.

Shortlisting is planned for week commencing 5th May 2025

Interviews are planned for week commencing 26th May 2025

If you would like more information on this opportunity, please contact –  Victoria.Wilton2@justice.gov.uk

Complaints procedure

If you have any complaints about this recruitment activity, please share your concerns by emailing LAARecruitment@justice.gov.uk initially. We aim to respond to any complaint within 10 working days.