MoJ Property Directorate Role Profile

Overview

The MoJ Property Directorate is a customer focused organisation that exists to enable our customers to perform to their very best. We do this by providing high quality, easy to use services, and working environments that our customers want to work in, which support them to deliver their individual outputs efficiently. Our job is to manage one of the most diverse and complex estates in Government - hosted by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Our remit brings together a property portfolio including Prisons, Probation, MoJ HQ and Arm’s Length Bodies.

MoJ Property provides specialist services including Facilities Management, Health and Safety, Fire Safety, Security, Technical Design expertise and Sustainability. Additionally, we have dedicated business management teams supporting the entire Directorate and each of our partners is supported by Account Management teams. We are part of the Government Property Profession (GPP) and through active membership and engagement we will work with the Office of Government Property to develop the maturity of the profession and encourage our people to join the GPP. We aim to build our capability through training and recruitment, aspiring to be the best that we can be as individuals and as a Directorate.

We continue to deliver new ways of working across our portfolio leading on the scale and pace of activity for central government. Our approach involves proposing effective solutions, offering dynamic and flexible workspaces, and significantly reducing the cost of the estate.

MOJ Property delivers a variety of Special Projects, addressing specific capacity needs across the HMPPS Estate. The Portfolio Manager Role will be part of the Rapid Deployment Cells Programme and will support the team deliver against the current delivery strategy.

The RDCP aims to deliver capacity across the prison estate at pace. RDCs represent the fastest current deliverable supply option for the prison estate to reduce the capacity gap in the short-medium term whilst other work is underway on both demand and supply measures.  

Units will be modern, decent, and offer the prisons a good option to manage their progressive regimes (independent living to those prisoners who are nearing the end of their term of risk assessed as not being a danger to themselves or others).  

RDC units differ from other temporary accommodation in a number of ways. The units can be stacked to effectively utilise space and accessible sleeper units can be provided.     

In December 2022, the Full Business Case (FBC) Addendum to secure funding for 520 additional RDC places was approved by HM Treasury and Cabinet Office. Overall, this takes delivery of the first two Tranches to a total of 1,000 places across 17 prisons. c.400 RDC places were delivered in 2023, with the majority of the remaining 600 places due to deliver over 2024.     

As of June 2024, we have delivered 767 places across 14 sites.

Team Overview

The RDC Programme is a top priority for HMPPS and MoJ as a key solution to manage short-to-medium term capacity pressures. There is significant interest from the Lord Chancellor and No10 with the programme having secured funding to deliver c.1700.

The rationale for the delivery of all spaces was to deliver much needed capacity for the estate in the short-to-medium term and will enable the department to meet its legal obligation to ensure sufficient prison capacity to uphold court sentences in the longer term. RDCP is the preferred short-term option at our disposal to support HMPPS and deliver prison places.

The Porgramme team consists of a team of Senior Project Sponsors and a Head of Programme Delivery.

Job Description, Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include the following:

• Contribute effectively to the development of the strategic outline business cases (custodial, non-custodial and probation), by engaging and working closely with Directorate stakeholders: Strategic Account Managers; and project sponsors at all levels to ensure all approvals are required for good governance and portfolios are compiled that meet business needs, within spend allocated and achieve value form money.

• Work closely with the Technical Standards and Performance teams to maintain accurate records on the delivery of agreed programmes.

• Prepare and issue mandates to project sponsors.

• Lead on behalf of the Head of Programmes and Portfolio’s on key workstreams, for example: benefits management, risk and issue management, lessons learnt and Medium term supply submissions.

• Provide accurate project and portfolio performance reports for strategy, investment and delivery boards. Which may include RDC Programme Board, Senior Delivery Group and Working Groups

• Regularly review the Programme with key business stakeholders, ensuring projects follow change control process when changes are required. The portfolio manager will draft, manage and keep updated a rolling five-year portfolio.

• Regularly review expenditure profiles with finance colleagues and Head of Programme Delivery(s), to ensure robust forecasting of in-year expenditure.

• Maintain the mandated Programme budget, ensuring robust forecasting, and approve payments efficiently including requests to release contingency funding, challenging delivery teams as appropriate to ensure value for money.

• Timely consideration; evaluation and if appropriate escalation to the Head of Programmes and Portfolio’s of assigned projects within the portfolio in relation to change control and issues in relation to time, cost and quality outside of agreed tolerance.

• Maintain and be accountable for the completion of wider programme and portfolio reporting.

• Maintain Programme change logs, analysing data sets and influencing change with programme to deliver enhanced value for money

• Liaise closely with the key RDC Stakeholders, namely RDC Programme Team, Finance, CCMD, Mobilisation and IT.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Ability to look at the big picture and consider the wider factors and long-term implications of everything you do

• Ability to take a positive approach to tackling problems and find ways to identify suitable solutions

• You work well as part of a team and strive to ensure the team pulls together and is effective

• To be detailed, focus, and ensure that everything is accurate and error free

Highly Desirable:

• Financial management experience

• Ability to work with minimal supervision, taking responsibility for outcomes

• Awareness of Government Property Profession

Qualifications

Further Opportunities

• opportunities exist to develop skills and gain qualifications in the area e.g. Management of Portfolio Foundation / Practitioner course.

Behaviours

We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Changing and Improving

• Managing a Quality Service

• Working Together

At application stage candidates will be asked to provide a 1,000 word personal ‘Statement of Suitability’ and CV giving examples of any relevant technical skills, experience and behaviours they feel demonstrate their suitability for the role, as outlined in the role profile.

Flexible working hours

The Property Directorate offers a flexible working system in many teams.

Requests for reduced hours contracts will be considered in line with business needs.

This is a full-time role.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. We are happy to accommodate any reasonable adjustments you may require during the selection process. 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

The Directorate is supportive of and encourages flexible working.

Non-civil service candidates will start on the pay band minimum.