Freedom of Information Advisor / Officer

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency enhance and improve the health of millions of people every day through the effective regulation of medicines and medical devices, underpinned by science and research.

About the Division:

The MHRA Communications & Engagement division is a multi-award-winning team that has a consistent track-record of achievement and providing value for money. Our focus is to support the Agency to deliver its business outcomes by putting patients and the public at the centre of all our work. We are organised in the following teams: News & Media, Communications, Patient and Public Stakeholder Engagement and Customer Experience. This role is in our Customer Experience Centre (CEC) team.

The purpose of the team is to offer a single advice and information centre which can resolve enquiries, whenever possible, at first point of contact, providing consistently good quality customer experience through a variety of channels and services. We have close working relationships across the Communications group, the wider Agency and others in the healthcare family and we use these relationships to support enhancements to the service we provide to our customers.

This role offers the opportunity to be at the forefront of the handling of Freedom of Information requests, Internal Reviews and liaison with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The profile of the agency has grown as a result of our involvement in the pandemic and there is increased public interest on our work. From a Freedom of Information perspective this has led to a higher than ever level of requests, with these predominately falling onto the same teams to handle via their combination of technical and regulatory knowledge and their understanding of the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

As our Freedom of Information Advisor, your main responsibilities will be to:

• Develop and deliver a refreshed agency-wide approach to the handling of Freedom of Information requests.
• Carry out effective evaluation and measurement of the handling of requests, understanding response timeframes, subject areas, exemptions applied and the proportion of requests which reach an Internal Review and which in turn then reach the ICO. The post holder will be responsible for ensuring deadlines are met for replies to initial requests, internal reviews and information requested by the ICO.
• Effectively line manage a small, friendly team.
• Create a central repository of previous responses, categorised for searchability by topic / subject area. For each topic, summarise previous handling including any learning from past requests and any subsequent review, helping provide an overall handling approach and providing consistency, whilst ensuring any learning from past responses is reflected moving forward.
• Prepare training materials which range from a high-level overview of the Act to more detailed training on request handling and the application of specific exemptions, with the agency context and past experience included within this.
• Coordinate the re-introduction and training of the cross-agency Freedom of Information network.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with senior managers and expert staff across the agency and with relevant external stakeholders, including the ICO.
• Play a proactive senior role in the communications division’s account management and project management system.
• Play a proactive senior role in delivering the MHRA’s communications and reputation strategy and ensure that change communications and engagement supports the delivery of the communications and reputation strategy.

You’ll comfortably be able to meet the following criteria:

• Experience of working in a similar role – ideally in a Public Sector role.
• Freedom of Information requests.
• Excellent knowledge of GDPR.
• Line management.
• Excellent communication skills.
• The ability to engage at all levels.
• You’ll also have the ability to handle complex situations.

Disability confident

As a member of the disability confident scheme,MHRA guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group.

Armed Forces Covenant

MHRA guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, wewill interview the best candidates from within that group.

If you qualify for the above, please notify us on PSRapplications@publicsectorresourcing.co.uk.

We will be in touch to discuss your suitability and arrange your Guaranteed Interview.

Should you require reasonable adjustments at any point during the recruitment process or if there is a more accessible way for us to communicate, please do let me know.

In applying for this role you acknowledge the following, this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.