Senior Ministerial Writer

Location

Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford

About the job

Job summary

Our Mission

At BEIS, we are leading the UK’s recovery from coronavirus and are building a stronger, greener country. Our varied work makes a real difference to people across the UK and internationally. This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of the BEIS team and our exciting mission!

We lead on the UK’s commitments to tackle climate change and drive green economic growth. We support businesses to create jobs and increase opportunity in regions across the UK. We also encourage investment and innovation to make the UK a science superpower producing research that will improve lives.

Our Inclusive Environment

We are building an inclusive culture to make BEIS a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We offer first-class flexible working benefits, excellent employee well-being support and a great pension. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

We actively welcome applications from anyone who shares our commitment to inclusion. We will fully support candidates with a disability or long-term condition who require adjustments in our recruitment process.

Job description

Do you have a nifty turn of phrase and an engaging writing style?

A creative flair and an eye for accuracy?

Could you spend the morning drafting an after-dinner speech and the afternoon writing a ministerial foreword?

Have you got experience managing an enthusiastic team?

If so, this exciting and varied role in the new BEIS Editorial Unit could be for you!

At a time when the Business Department is leading on green growth, getting to grips with energy and encouraging investment in ground-breaking science and tech – there’s never been a better time to sell the BEIS story.

Working in the Communication Directorate you'll work closely with Ministers, Special Advisers, Private Office, and the Secretary of State’s Speechwriter to shape the BEIS narrative and messaging.

The Editorial Unit is dedicated to ensuring writing excellence across all the department’s output. The team is responsible for drafting ministerial speeches, op-eds, forewords and parliamentary products.

Person specification

• Produce creative, clear, and well-argued speeches and prose for the Secretary of State and Ministerial Team,  ensuring they are written in plain English and accessible to all audiences, not just policy experts.

• Write engaging ministerial Op-Eds for national papers.

• Manage and develop junior members of the team.

• Play an important role in joining up the work of the Private Offices with the work of the communication teams, developing processes that support a consistent and targeted approach on furthering departmental narratives.

• Script engaging video content for Ministers.

• Show a keen awareness of the of the sensitive media, political and stakeholder environment we operate in.

• Be a full and active member of the wider Communications team, willing to share and impart your knowledge and skills.

• Help the new Editorial Unit develop its reputation as a centre of excellence for clear writing across Whitehall.

Skills and Experience

• Excellent writer with a background in written communications or news desired.

• Ability to analyse, develop and present a high volume of complex information in a  creative and engaging way.

• Experience working in busy teams under pressure with strong organisational skills and resilience.

• Experience managing a team.

• Experience managing different stakeholders.

• Confidence advising ministers and operating in a confidential manner.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

BEIS offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.

Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.

An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.

Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need (from September 2021, depending on how the public health guidance evolves).

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please align your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to 'What attracts you to the role and what will you bring to it?'

Applications will be sifted on CV and Personal Statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour questions as well as a written exercise.

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 30th January 2023

Interview dates: w/c 6th February 2023

Interview Location: MS Teams.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

If a disabled person 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 [email protected] 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

We are proud to be a disability confident leader, more information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that BEIS offers to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our candidate guidance document. A plain text version of the guidance is also available.

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

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

After interview, a single merit list will be created and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 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. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

BEIS does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

BEIS cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. BEIS holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service / Disclosure Scotland 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 [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [email protected]

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.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

See our vetting charter.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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.

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.