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The Office for Local Government (Oflog) was established in 2023 to help to make local government even better. Oflog will help to drive and support improvement in local government through a combination of:

• increasing understanding – among citizens, civil society, central government and local government itself – about what data suggests about the performance of individual local authorities

• helping to identify local authorities that might benefit from extra support

• providing support to local government – for example by disseminating best practice or by helping local authorities to improve their own digital and data capability. Oflog is currently an office of MHCLG, meaning all staff are MHCLG civil servants

The role of Diary Manager and Executive Support Officer will provide the successful candidate with an opportunity to be at the heart of the development of this new Office, as they will be providing support and input for senior decision makers. The status and framework of the new organisation is in development, and this exciting and strategic role will evolve as the organisation grows.

Primary responsibilities will include working behind the scenes to manage senior colleagues’ diaries. The candidate will be key in helping senior decision makers to prioritise tasks, so they are able to optimise their decision-making. The successful candidate will be an integral part of the organisation, working with the CEO and Strategy and Governance Team to provide high quality support.

Your responsibilities will include:

• arranging and managing the diaries of senior civil servants

• managing the flow of papers to your principals, commissioning teams across the organisation to provide high quality briefing and advice and managing those commissions

• managing the inbox, prioritising correspondence that senior colleagues need to review and replying on their behalf where appropriate

• where required taking minutes and notes for meetings attended by seniors and keeping well organised records. Disseminating actions to the wider organisation where needed

• overseeing the management of the diary – to ensure meetings and appointments are scheduled appropriately

• providing secretariat support for a number of key products and governance boards – including regular reports and meetings

• Excellent organisation skills and an ability to work collaboratively, build consensus and influence outcomes.

• Strong interpersonal, stakeholder and communication skills, including the ability to work confidently with diverse groups of senior stakeholders, and provide challenge where necessary.

• Strong organisational and management skills – with an ability to deliver consistently in a fast-paced environment.

• Excellent oral and written skills including the ability to communicate detailed information succinctly.

• Track record of demonstrating resilience and flexibility under pressure with the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and balance competing demands - whilst remaining focused on delivering high quality outputs.

• An interest in the local government sector – with a strong enthusiasm for enhancing the environment in a way that makes a tangible difference for citizens.

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

• Delivering at Pace

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,464, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £7,666 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 employer contribution of 28.97%.

Things you need to know

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Strengths.

As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions, for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

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!) 

At sift, we will be assessing

Behaviour 1: Delivering at Pace (lead behaviour) 

Behaviour 2: Seeing the Big Picture

Behaviour 3: Communicating and Influencing

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

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 assessment/interview.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace

Strengths: The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Behaviours

Strengths

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

EO salary 

• The salary for this role is £26,464 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

  Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:  Any move to MHCLG 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 at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Birmingham

• Bristol

• Darlington*

• Leeds

• Manchester

• Wolverhampton 

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place w/c 18 November 2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Apprenticeships

The successful candidate will be encouraged to undertake a professional learning qualification as part of the role through the Level 4 Policy Officer, Level 3 Business Admin or Level 4 Business Analyst apprenticeship, if this is in line with both business needs and the individual’s development needs. This is not a mandatory condition of accepting the role.

Reserve List

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see: Internal Fraud Register 

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

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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)

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 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.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Job contact:

• Name: Tiegan Bingham-Roberts

• Email: tiegan.bingham-roberts@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team:

• Email: recruitment@communities.gov.uk