Head of Criminal Justice Reform Portfolio Delivery
Grade 6
Criminal Justice Strategy and Reform Directorate
The CJS Strategy and Reform Directorate is recruiting temporarily for Grade 6 Head of Criminal Justice Reform Portfolio Delivery. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.
The role is being offered on Detached Duty for staff within the Ministry of Justice or Loan terms for staff in HMPPS or from other government departments.
Location:
Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:
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102 Petty France, London
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5 Wellington Place, Leeds
Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).
Ways of Working
At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:
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Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
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Flexible working patterns
If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.
We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.
Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
The Work of the Criminal Justice Reform Portfolio Delivery Unit
The Criminal Justice System Strategy and Reform Directorate is newly established, and the Reform Portfolio Delivery Unit is a new team which is being created to co-ordinate and drive delivery of the x-CJS Reform Portfolio. The role will focus on implementation, sequencing and conce of reform across government and the wider criminal justice system, ensuring that changes are deliverable, aligned and do not destabilise system capacity.
The Role - Head of Criminal Justice Reform Portfolio Delivery
This is a new role and t is an opportunity to shape and develop the role as the approach to x-CJS Reform to ensure that t is a cont and sequenced approach to x-CJS Reform, building strong x-CJS relationships and building a x-CJS Portfolio of change.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
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A visible leader able to work collaboratively with senior stakeholders to set direction and to use governance structures to shape and agree a system wide response to complex issues.
- A strategic thinker with a proven ability to engage stakeholders in setting a future vision which ensures alignment of operational delivery plans with strategic policy outcomes.
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Experience of programme and portfolio management approaches and successful delivery of transformation as a result
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An excellent understanding of data and the use of analytical approaches to generate insights on performance and capacity.
- Confident working with and briefing ministers and senior officials with strong written and verbal communication skills.
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Proven ability to deliver at pace and in uncertain and changing circumstances.
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A commitment to changing and improving, able to generate a culture of continuous improvement and promote sharing of good practice across the Department and system.
- A commitment to role-model continuous self-learning and development and to identify areas individuals and teams need to develop in order to achieve future objectives.
- A good understanding of the key strategic issues facing the criminal justice system.
Desirable:
- Leadership of a multi -disciplinary team
Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.
The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.
Application process
You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.
You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Experience
You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.
Behaviours
During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour(s) (see Annex A for more information):
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Leadership
- Working Together
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK
Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the Statement of Suitability and/or the lead behaviour of Leadership. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.
Candidates invited to Interview
Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.
You will be assessed against the following behaviours at the interview stage w you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.
Behaviours:
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Leadership
- Working Together
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
- WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or
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STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
Strengths:
It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK
You will be asked to deliver a presentation as part of the interview process.
Interviews are expected to take place August.
At interview stage, if candidates do not score high enough to be appointed to a Grade 6 role, but have passed the minimal requirements, they could be offered a Policy role at Grade 7.
Contact information
Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.
Clare Toogood, Deputy Director Cross CJS Reform and Implementation [email protected].
Annex A - The STAR method
Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.
Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.
W
- are you?
Who was t- with you?
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What had happened?
Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.
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What was the task that you had to complete and why?
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What did you have to achieve?
Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.
Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.
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What results did the actions produce?
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What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
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Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?
Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.
