G7 Policy Advisors

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink. In terms of programme and project delivery, Defra has one of the largest and most complicated portfolios in Government. Water is vital for life - clean, freshwater for drinking and sanitation, providing for farms and industry, creating and sustaining the ecosystems on which all life depends. Yet water is a finite natural resource, facing increasing pressures from climate change and population growth. Never before has political, media and public attention been focused on water as it is now. This brings a great opportunity, and we have been given a mandate to make some once in a generation changes to the UK's relationship with water. Water is a top priority for the Secretary of State. The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, is preparing recommendations to government for fundamental reform of the water industry model. The government will respond to the recommendations through a White Paper and is expected to bring forward legislation to implement the reform programme. You can help us lead on high profile issues from improving the performance and regulation of the water industry, to addressing sources of pollution and ensuring there is sufficient water supply. This work is crucial to improving water for the benefit of people and the environment. We are seeking capable people to contribute to our policy and strategy work in Water. Whilst core policy skills are essential, we do not expect applicants to have specialist knowledge of the area. These roles are a great opportunity to acquire experience in developing new policies to reform and transform a sector, support the development of primary and secondary legislation, work with a wide range of stakeholders, and develop extensive opportunities to brief seniors and ministers on high profile policy areas. Floods & Water work in a programmatic way, prioritising work to ensure we're focusing on the right things at the right time. This means that our teams can pivot onto new workstreams once projects and programmes are concluded, or if circumstances change and they are reprioritised. Our roles therefore offer a wealth of development opportunities and experiences, and we expect a degree of flexibility and mental agility from our staff to support this. Whichever part of Water you're in, you will play an active role in shaping and delivering the Floods & Water priorities, working creatively and collaboratively with others to deliver excellent outcomes. You will need to build excellent relationships across Floods & Water Directorate, with wider Defra colleagues, other government departments and arm's length bodies (such as the Environment Agency), and with external stakeholders, inspiring confidence and trust. You can expect frequent interaction with Ministers, Special Advisers and senior officials, including in other government departments. It's a very exciting time to join the team and be part of supporting important policy areas. We are working to deliver the largest programme ever, making this a really exciting time to join, leading in a policy area that will have a real and lasting impact on our environment. This is an area of significant public interest and you will need to be comfortable working at pace on a high-profile public policy area. As a team leader you will have responsibility for leading a team to deliver high priority policy interventions and changes in Water. The successful candidates will:

• Lead a team of policy officials to drive progress, find solutions to unblock issues, and deliver important changes to policy and legislation relating to water.
• Ensure alignment and join-up to wider policy teams across Defra, the regulators, ALBs, stakeholder and other government departments.
• Balance competing priorities and respond to new developments to ensure delivery across their team's work
• Lead and support the development of your team
• Brief ministers and senior officials, orally and in writing
• Manage relationships with stakeholders and experts to support the design of new policy interventions