Bristol, Darlington, London, Manchester, Wolverhampton
Job Summary
Have you got exceptional written and oral communication skills? Do you have excellent time management skills with the ability to filter and manage your workload?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Briefings Officer to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Building Safety Briefings Team. The objective of the Building Safety Programme is to deliver an ambitious system of reform, as well as a historic cladding remediation programme, with the aim of ensuring buildings above 11 metres are safe, and that residents feel safe in them, now and in the future. Our work involves a high level of ministerial engagement, public and media interest.
The team sits in the very centre of the programme, providing a critical function in translating its work into clear, robust and high-quality briefing products and PQ responses for the Secretary of State, our ministers, senior officials and wider interest groups. This supports effective engagement with stakeholders, ensuring that the public and Parliament have appropriate responses. The successful candidate will enjoy being on top of and alive to a wide range of policy work and be able to convert that into succinct products that meet our customers’ needs.
Job Description
As a member of the Building Safety Briefings Team you will be responsible for ensuring concise and informative briefings are drafted for ministers and senior stakeholders, and for coordinating responses to Parliamentary Questions (PQs). This can include briefing for ministerial meetings with stakeholders, parliamentary debates, committees and oral parliamentary questions.
You Will:
- Ensure the delivery of high-quality, concise and informative briefings.
- Evaluate all briefing requests and provide clear direction to policy leads contributing to relevant material.
- Liaise with Private Offices on requirements and keep them informed of progress.
- Ensure material is drafted on time, coherently and addresses the need.
- Review existing material and contributions, draft, collate, and quality assure products.
- Commission and quality assure answers to written questions from Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, ensuring that the right officials are involved in responding, and that these answers are delivered in a timely manner.
- Maintain a shared repository of PQs and briefing that act as an auditable record of programme business.
As a member of the Building Safety Briefings Team you will be responsible for ensuring concise and informative briefings are drafted for ministers and senior stakeholders, and for coordinating responses to Parliamentary Questions (PQs). This can include briefing for ministerial meetings with stakeholders, parliamentary debates, committees and oral parliamentary questions.
You Will:
- Ensure the delivery of high-quality, concise and informative briefings.
- Evaluate all briefing requests and provide clear direction to policy leads contributing to relevant material.
- Liaise with Private Offices on requirements and keep them informed of progress.
- Ensure material is drafted on time, coherently and addresses the need.
- Review existing material and contributions, draft, collate, and quality assure products.
- Commission and quality assure answers to written questions from Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, ensuring that the right officials are involved in responding, and that these answers are delivered in a timely manner.
- Maintain a shared repository of PQs and briefing that act as an auditable record of programme business.
Person specification
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, to deliver high quality products for ministers and senior officials.
- Attention to detail, especially when working in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to see strategically across the programme and to identify gaps.
- Flexible and inclusive approach to delivering work.
- Ability to work at pace and manage multiple requests
Alongside your salary of £34,801, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £10,081 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.
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
Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:
Ability , Behaviours , Strengths
Stage 1: Sift
- Behaviour: (Lead Behaviour) - Delivering at Pace
- Behaviour: Managing A Quality Service
- Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing
There is a 250-word limit per question.
When Writing Your Application, Remember:
- the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially
- do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers
- if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.
In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.
If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at
hello@beapplied.com.
Stage 2: Interview
- Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Managing A Quality Service, Delivering at Pace.
- Ability
- Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
As part of the interview process, candidates will be asked to complete a written task. Full details will be provided in prior to the interview.
Sift and Interview Dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 16/02.
Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 02/03 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.
How We Recruit
Find out more about our recruitment processes here.
- Applying
- Sifting
- Interview
- Interview Results & Feedback
- Reserve List
- Near Miss
- Civil Service Grades
- We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer
- Reasonable Adjustments
How To Apply
Find out everything you need to know before applying here.
You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.
- Security Clearance Requirements
- Civil Service Nationality Requirements
- Right to Work
- Artificial Intelligence
- Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles
- CV Declaration
- Sponsorships
- Salary and Grade
- Existing Civil Servants
- Conflict of Interest
- Location and Flexible Working
- Fixed Term Contracts
- Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register
- Appeals and Complaints
- Conflict of Interest
Security Clearance Requirements
National Office: BPSS
London Office: BPSS + CTC
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.
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.
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).
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 : Emily Wiffin
- Email : emily.wiffin@communities.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk
