Strategic Governance Advisor

The Secretariat sits at the heart of the Department for Business and Trade in the Ministerial Strategy Directorate. We oversee the Department’s governance framework and provide a strategic and logistical service to the Departmental Board, Executive Committee, and their subcommittees. We support DBT’s senior leaders in their decision-making, ensuring that the right decisions are taken at the right time with accurate and high-quality evidence to support them.
The team also manages the Department's relationship with Non-Executive Directors; ensuring the Department engages them strategically on priority pieces of work, and managing a tailored Private Office function for their interactions with the Department.
Governance advisor roles in the Secretariat will involve building and managing strong working relationships with a wide range of very senior stakeholders, taking responsibility for progressing are defined area of DBT’s governance landscape and working across the Secretariat to support the effectiveness of the whole team’s quality of service. They will also gain exposure to and experience of DBT’s governance arrangements, giving them a cross-cutting view of DBT’s activity and the delivery of its ambitious agenda., The team is recruiting for a Strategic Governance Advisor.
The post-holder will:
+ Support delivery of the Departmental Board, which meets ~4 times a year.
+ Commissioning papers, quality assuring papers and creating the Board Pack.
+ High-quality meeting support, drafting concise minutes and commissioning and tracking of actions for the Board.
+ Lead the delivery of the Board Effectiveness Review and the implementation of actions from it, to support continuous improvement of the Board.
Lead and manage the Performance and Risk Committee (PRC), which monitors DBT’s performance and performs deep-dives into departmental risks. The Committee meets ~10 times a year.
Supporting the Director General Co-Chair, Tara Smith and David Bickerton, and Committee to fulfil their responsibilities. Delivery of this high-quality service will include:
+ Setting committee agendas in line with the committee Terms of Reference.
+ Commissioning papers, quality assuring papers and creating each meeting pack.
+ High-quality minuting and recording of actions.
+ High-quality advice to teams, documentation to support process, clear commissioning and follow up of actions.
+ Developing an effective working relationship with the Chair and Committee.
+ Developing an effective working relationship with the Performance, Risk and other lead Teams.
+ Undertaking effectiveness reviews of the Committee and driving the implementation of continuous improvements.
+ Lead on broader project-based work as opportunities arise.
Appointments will be made to candidates in merit order based on location preferences., + A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.
+ Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
+ The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.
+ New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
+ 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. Any applicant who has 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.
+ Terms and Conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
+ Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role., 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 security 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 the Civil 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.
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+ Experience of working on competing priorities, often to short deadlines
+ Strong planning and organisational skills with a focus on detail
+ A willingness to identify and implement improvements to processes
+ Experience of building relationships across a wide network of stakeholders
+ A strong team ethic and a willingness to work across the Secretariat team
Desirable criteria
+ Experience working with senior stakeholders
+ Understanding of or experience in governance
Personal attributes & skills
Successful candidates will build an understanding of the Department’s priorities and will use that awareness to ensure that Committees are appropriately engaged across the breadth of the Department’s work.
The successful candidate will be pro-active and work well under pressure. With line manager support, they should be comfortable managing competing priorities and short notice requests.
They will need the soft skills to build and maintain effective working relationships, based on mutual respect and trust, with a wide range of senior and critical stakeholders across the Department and beyond. The role entails a significant amount of senior stakeholder engagement and the successful candidate will need to have the confidence to appropriately engage with these individuals.
Upholding high standards of governance is a responsibility for these roles, operating with integrity and observing the confidential nature of some of the work and ensuring that the principles of good governance are upheld., + Managing a Quality Service
+ Delivering at Pace
+ Communicating and Influencing

Alongside your salary of £32,858, Department for Business and Trade contributes £8,871 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 average employer contribution of 27%
We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities
Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits.