Interim Strategy & Policy Officer HDRC

Reference no:  Tower Hamlets RQ819232

Pay Rate: £24.49 per hour PAYE 

This opening assignment is for 1-2 months

Thew purpose of the role is to provide support to senior officers, members and partners in solving problems and responding to external frameworks, opportunities, risks and events in the areas of client Directorates.

The post holder will provide expert advice to DLTs, CLT and Cabinet as appropriate on the development of priority outcomes and the identification of strategic risks and opportunities. This will include regular attendance at departmental and corporate management team meetings as appropriate in order to present reports and briefings.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the delivery of a pioneering capacity-building programme and shaping its foundation year.
• Ensure/assure delivery of the HDRC development programme plan, rapidly establishing effective programme management systems for the development year, ensuring clear lines of accountability, monitoring deliverables and budgets and identifying and managing risks.
• Work with the finance lead to manage expenditure against the cost centre budget in accordance with financial and procurement systems and regulations and operate within spending controls. To ensure budgets and financial risks are monitored and that all spending is appropriately forecast, monitored, authorised and reported.
• Support on a range of functional activity including scrutiny, equality, partnership, engagement and consultation.
• Support the prediction of and proactive response to changes in the council’s external policy and regulatory environment. This will require the post-holder to maintain a good understanding of the wider context in which the council operates including relevant statutory and regulatory frameworks. The post-holder will be responsible for identifying risks and opportunities in order to ensure that the council engages positively and is compliant in all regards.
• Develop briefings and reports for senior officers and elected members with a focus on client Directorates. This will include using qualitative and quantitative data to produce authoritative, clear and concise briefings and reports with a clear focus on key decisions and actions.
• Maintain external networks and promote a good understanding of sector developments, innovative practice and new opportunities in the area of client Directorates. The post-holder will be expected to attend external events and meetings to represent the council and ensure that it benefits from learning and best practice shared by others.
• Provide policy advice and support to Scrutiny Committees Panels, Elected Members and Cabinet as required. The post-holder will be expected to maintain a good understanding of the workings of democracy and scrutiny to engage positively and effectively with them where called upon to do so. Duties will include research, drafting of briefings, reports, and direct liaison with elected members where necessary.
• To support the council’s work on equalities, community cohesion, and engagement. This will entail working to ensure compliance with established frameworks, ensuring that the council is compliant with statutory regulations and undertaking project work as required.
• Support the council’s work with the voluntary and community sector through grants development, monitoring and evaluation.
• To support the development of high-quality strategies, policies and plans drawing on robust evidence and research, working with colleagues across Strategy, Policy and Improvement (SPI) and Strategy, Improvement and Transformation (SIT) and the broader Health Determinants Research Collaborative (HDRC) partnership.

“Role Requirements” – to give yourself the maximum chance of success please try and ensure your CV addresses the following essential criteria:

Qualifications:

1. Relevant professional qualification or equivalent experience in particular experience of managing programmes or grant administration in the higher education sector or other organisation.

Skills & Experience:

1. Minimum of 12 months recent experience in a similar role, or context and ideally within a public sector organisation.
2. Ability to gain experience in more than one of the following: strategic and business planning, programme management, equality, partnership, commissioning, research, performance, insight, public consultation, resident and community engagement, contractual reporting and improvement.
3. Ability to develop negotiation skills within a context of complexity and ambiguity to influence priority outcomes.
4. Ability to develop technical skills and abilities in relation to the policy analysis and interpretation that leads to development of organisation or borough wide strategic direction setting. Culture change and embedding research.
5. Excellent oral, written and visual communication skills involving a range of stakeholders.
6. Ability to develop analytical skills and lateral thinking to develop creative and innovative solutions.
7. ICT Skills: Strong IT skills including Microsoft packages or equivalent (e.g. G Suite).

Knowledge:

1. A good understanding of the national and local social and economic policy context for a range of functions including social and public policy, public health, partnerships, equalities, consultation and engagement, the voluntary and community sector.
2. A good understanding of statutory, policy, regulatory and ethical frameworks, specifically those that relate to the higher education sector, research and public health.
3. A good level of knowledge of key local services related to the HDRC, partners and HEIs in the borough and national research funding landscape.

NB: Please feel free to apply to us direct via [email protected] by quoting the job reference and job title exactly. SEE DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS AD.

If you have previously applied to one of our vacancies and have already sent the required supporting documentation to us, please make this clear when you re-apply as this will help speed up your application.

To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF

If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension you will be working this role at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than entertaining umbrella pay terms, we do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity.