Speechwriter to the Secretary of State

Job summary

We are looking for an ambitious, talented and motivated Speechwriter to join our busy team at the heart of Government. Whether it's actions to enhance and improve the environment, protecting the nation from flooding and animal disease outbreaks, or preparing new approaches to farming and fishing, the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its Arm's-Length Bodies is of huge public interest.

We are therefore delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for an outstanding communicator to join our fast-paced and high-performing team to create exciting written materials for our Secretary of State. Cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with our wide range of stakeholder groups, policy teams and across the communications directorate will play a crucial role in delivering on the department’s ambitious objectives.

A strong track record of producing high quality speeches, forewords and statements, as well as working at pace, will be essential. It should also be noted that successful candidates will be able to pivot to support across a wide range of policy areas as required. This means that wherever you find your focus, you’ll be working on priority pieces from across the Defra portfolio.

Job description

• Writing for the Secretary of State as the priority, alongside supporting the wider ministerial team.
• Devising, developing and delivering inspiring, informative and engaging external and internal communication products across the breadth of Defra’s remit.
• Producing products including speeches, statements, parliamentary materials and forewords aligned with departmental objectives and the wider governmental agenda.
• Working closely with the department’s communication teams to plan and deliver effective communication products ensuring they reflect the 'voice' and priorities of ministers and there is coherence between communication, parliamentary, correspondence and other stakeholder products.
• Overseeing a dynamic speech strategy for the Secretary of State, proactively looking for new and innovative opportunities and platforms to communicate policy/operational announcements.

Person specification

• Working with Ministers and Special Advisers - critically you will need to develop strong relationships with the Secretary of State and the Ministerial team, identify and refine their ‘voice’ and secure their trust in drafting speeches and editorials.
• You will work closely with colleagues across Private Office to deliver a pipeline of speeches and comms products.
• You will be a team player across a range of policy, delivery and comms teams - you will need to embed yourself in a collaborative way across a range of teams to plan and deliver creative and compelling content across a range of products, working particularly closely with the comms team.
• You will build relationships with external stakeholders to gain audience insight and material to inform your written materials.
• You will have excellent drafting and editorial skills to develop expert written/verbal products for both external and internal audiences at pace.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Government Communication Service (GCS) Competency 1: Insight

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £62,000, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £17,961 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to submit:

• a CV
• a personal statement of no more than 500 words. Your personal statement should provide detailed evidence of how you meet the essential criteria in the person specification section of the job advert.
• Statements (no more than 250 words per statement) for the following Civil Service Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing and Delivering at Pace.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift and interview dates, as well as the interview location, to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on:

• the following Civil Service Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace and Working Together.
• the following technical skill: Government Communication Service (GCS) Competency 1: Insight. Please see the Grade 7/6s level skills and knowledge required for the competency: Competency Framework - technical specifications - GCS.

A presentation or additional exercise may also be assessed.

Top scoring candidates from the interview will be invited to have an informal chat with the Secretary of State.

Location

This role will be based at the Marsham Street, London office which will be the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post will need to change their contractual location to London if they are not currently contractually based in London.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Full Time Only

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold basic security clearance. Candidates posted to London may be subject to a higher level of clearance because of the security requirements for that location. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : Kathie Coad
• Email : kathie.coad@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

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 Government Recruitment Services via email: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here