Policy And Strategy Officer

About the role

Are you looking for a position where you can make a real difference, using your skills to help colleagues deliver the most effective services possible?

We are looking to recruit a Policy and Strategy Officer; someone who may already have experience in a similar role, or have transferrable skills. You will support the Policy and Insight Team by reviewing and interpreting national policy, linking this to the work of colleagues in the Council; reviewing and evaluating Council policy; supporting the team’s work to develop good policy practice across the Council and by liaising with colleagues to help deliver the Council’s annual Business Planning process.

The role will sit within Cambridgeshire County Council’s Policy & Insight Team. A team of 40-50 colleagues who provide data, analytical insight and policy expertise to support the operational management and strategic planning of services.

We are a family-friendly employer and will be happy to negotiate on working arrangements to achieve a good work / life balance. This hybrid-working role is currently available on a permanent basis and is up to full-time hours, but with some flexibility on working hours. We encourage part-time applicants with the right skill set to apply.

Please see the attached Job Description for full details.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange an informal chat, please contact Ste Thornley (Stephen.Thornley@cambridgeshire.gov.uk) or Andy Mailer (Andrew.Mailer@cambridgeshire.gov.uk).

Please note: The application period for this role closes on 9th February 2024. We expect interviews to take place on the week commencing 26th February 20242.

Shortlisted candidates will be expected to complete an analysis and presentation exercise as part of the interview, the details of which will be shared a week in advance of the interview date.

Your application will be shortlisted against the essential and desirable criteria in the attached job description and person specification. Please ensure that you read this document carefully and provide us with a personal statement that demonstrates your skills, experience and attitude.

Whilst Cambridgeshire County Council’s Recruitment Hub will ask you to outline your employment history; the personal statement is the primary evidence that we will use in determining whether to invite a candidate to interview. Attached to this advert is further guidance in how to complete this statement.

What will you be doing?

The Policy and Insight Team works across the four portfolios:

• People (Adults, children’s, education operations, commissioning and policy, statutory returns, inspection)
• Place (Information development, demography and forecasting, climate and environment, transport, Housing)
• Partnerships (Communities and libraries, community safety, skills and economy, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Insight)
• Strategy (corporate strategy, business planning, consultation and engagement, emergency response co-ordination)

The role will work across these portfolios to support the Senior Policy & Strategy Officers in the team to deliver specific pieces of work which could include:

• drafting policy briefings for senior colleagues
• evaluating the content, implementation or impact of policies and identifying learning points to improve future policies
• management of the Council’s Policy and Strategy Library
• policy support to the Policy and Insight Managers and Senior Analysts in the team
• assisting in the development of best practice advice to support colleagues across the Council

About you

You will have, or be willing to develop, an understanding of the breadth of issues facing a local authority and the role that Policy and insight can play in shaping responses to these issues.

You must have a keen eye for detail and the ability to manage a varied workload according to strict deadlines, making your own decisions to ensure that priority tasks are handled appropriately.

Collaborative and discreet, your creativity and insight will enable you to interpret policy developments in a way that assists colleagues to make best use of the information to develop their own work.

Good communication skills, both oral and written, are essential for this role, as you will be required to present complex and sometimes technical information in appropriate forms for a wide range of internal and external audiences.

You may have experience of policy review and evaluation, or bring demonstrably appropriate transferrable skills. A relevant bachelor’s degree (or equivalent qualification) is a minimum requirement. The successful applicant will be well supported to further develop their subject knowledge in relevant areas.

Please see the attached Job Description for full details.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits:

• Flexible working
• Flexible Bank Holidays
• A comprehensive wellbeing package
• Our Cambs Rewards employee discounts
• A comprehensive pension scheme
• IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Camweb our staff intranet helping to keep you informed
• An employee recognition scheme