Business support Officer

Job summary

We are seeking a high performing EO Business support officer, which sits within the Strategy & Policy Directorate, within the Chief Operating Officer Group.

The Strategy & Policy directorate set UKHSA’s strategic direction and lead robust, evidence-based policy development to ensure we are ready to meet current and future challenges and achieve better and more equitable health outcomes for the population.

Working for your organisation

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Job description

If you join us as Business support officer your duties are likely to include, but not limited to:

• Sitting in the Director’s Private Office, these roles will be varied, challenging and stimulating, working in a fast-paced dynamic environment across the business:
• Strategic planning of 2 Deputy Directors diary’s, developing a high-level understanding of key divisional priorities and ensuring efficient and appropriate use of time.
• Day-to-day diary management – setting up meetings and adapting quickly to changes to ensure smooth and effective management of time. Preparing daily diary packs, ensuring the Deputy Director has all the relevant briefing they need for their meetings.
• Managing the inbox of the Deputy Director ensuring that important emails are highlighted and that there is an effective organisation system of the inbox in operation
• Take responsibility for commissioning and collating responses to requests for information or action. To achieve this, you will need to set up and maintain an effective filing and archiving system and be able to respond to enquiries and requests.
• The ability to establish and maintain a trusting business relationship with Senior Civil Servants is key to this role as is the ability to handle sensitive information with the utmost discretion
• Secretariat to meetings as required, including minute taking at meetings
• Mange and organise an in-house OneNote system to ensure the Deputy Director is prepared for all meeting they attend, including commissioning briefing where needed.

As UKHSA undertakes some of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s Category 1 responder functions on their behalf, you may be expected to contribute to wider Incident response. This is high pressured work and will require being able to multi-task and adjust to changing priorities often at short notice.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Forward planning to handle a senior civil servant’s diary, allocating time in line with priorities
• Building relationships with other ministerial offices, senior civil servants and the department’s most important external stakeholders
• Leading on all logistical matters, including organizing and planning domestic and international travel arrangements ensuring value for money
• Advising the senior civil servant on how best to use their time and be able to brief them on the details of each of their engagements
• Deputising for the Private Secretary/Business Manager with the potential to lead on a policy area or parliamentary or corporate business
• Ensuring that the senior civil servant has received timely and quality written briefings from the department.
• Supporting delivery of area objectives and business objectives.
• Support the principal through delivery of effective and efficient private office duties, including inbox management, correspondence management and communications.
• Be able to build and maintain trusting business relationships with Senior Civil Servants and other Private Offices, using your own judgement to effective manage fast paced and challenging situations.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience working on health policy or health related issues
• Experience of working in a senior officials Private Office

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,547, UK Health Security Agency contributes £8,270 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Success profiles Success Profiles - GOV.UK

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed (9) essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 1,000 word supporting statement.

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible). Please do not email us your CV.

Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 1,000 words. We will not consider any words over 1,000 words.

Longlisting:

In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

1. Meets all essential criteria
2. Meets some essential criteria
3. Meets no essential criteria

If used, the following will proceed to shortlisting

1. Meets all essential criteria

Shortlisting:

In the event of a large number of applications we may conduct an initial sift, on the lead criteria of:

• Building relationships with other ministerial offices, senior civil servants and the department’s most important external stakeholders
• Support the principal through delivery of effective and efficient private office duties, including inbox management, correspondence management and communications.
• Forward planning to handle a senior civil servant’s diary, allocating time in line with priorities

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications / large amount of successful candidates.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

Success profiles Success Profiles - GOV.UK

You will be invited to a single remote interview.

Behaviours will be tested at interview.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Seeing the big picture
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Managing a quality service - Lead behaviour

Interviews dates are to be confirmed

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Location

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs.

We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's core HQs (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London).

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport links and benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement
Successful candidates must pass a basic disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.

Eligibility Criteria – External

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including internal applicants).

Salary Information
If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.

Please be aware that the salary is based on the office location:

Executive Officer (EO)
• £28,547- £33,196 (National)
• £30,441- £35,576 (Outer London)
• £32,624-£37,737 (Inner London)

Future location
UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK.
The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're
appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff.

Reasonable Adjustments
The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any
reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability
Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs. You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

International Police check
If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

Internal Fraud Check
If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub, and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional
circumstances. Currently this is only for external candidates to the Civil Service.

Please note: The Chief Operating Officer (COO) group, where this role sits, is undergoing organisational change over the next 12–18 months. While the process is still in the planning stage, some roles may be affected by future restructuring. We are committed to keeping candidates informed and will share updates as they become available.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Gurkamal Bhambra
• Email : gurkamal.bhambra@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's
Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact the UKHSA Complaints team via email at: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Visit the Civil Service Commission website for
further information: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk