Private Secretary To The Non-Executive Directors And Departmental Board Lead

In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

We have an opportunity within DHSC’s Planning, Performance, Reporting and Secretariat (PPRS) Unit which sits within the Ministers, Accountability and Strategy (MAS) Directorate. The Unit covers departmental governance and business planning, risk and performance reporting and offers an excellent opportunity to see the breadth of the Department’s work.

The team is predominantly split across Leeds and London. It is a friendly, welcoming and supportive team. While the work is often fast-paced, we place your wellbeing above all else and you will be supported to stretch your capabilities and thrive in the role. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

There are three key parts to this role. Two of these relate to the Department’s Governance top-level governance:

Private Secretary to the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs): NEDs are independent members of a number of the Department’s Boards and Committees and lend their expertise to many aspects of the Department’s work. The role entails supporting them to work with the wider Department and managing their time.

Departmental Board lead: The Board is chaired by the Secretary of State and attended by Permanent Secretaries and NEDs. The successful candidate would be responsible for overseeing the organisation of the quarterly Board meetings and working with senior staff to agree agendas and manage the secretariat.

Business support: The third element role includes line management of the central team in the Directorate that provides the corporate function for the Directorate and business support for the Director and Deputy Directors.

The successful candidate will need to be confident working directly with senior staff (including NEDs and SCS members), have good organisational skills and the ability to manage priorities to manage a flexible workload.

Secretariat and Private Secretary for the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs):

• You would be the main point of contact to keep our team of NEDs connected to various projects and Boards. This will involve liaising with policy teams and senior staff to ensure NEDs are well-briefed as well as supporting the appointments team with recruitment for future NED appointments.
• To proactively identify opportunities for the NEDs to support and challenge policy areas, to improve the effectiveness of DHSC overall.
• Managing NEDs time and commitments in order to maximise their impact on DHSC, so they are engaged across a range of activities such as key governance meetings, policy issues and leadership and development work;
• Departmental Board lead. You would manage the quarterly Departmental board meetings working with Permanent Secretary and Ministerial offices to develop engaging agendas, brief the Secretary of State and ensure that actions are taken forward.
• Developing and implementing ways to improve the effectiveness and visibility of Departmental Board.
• Line management of the MAS Business Support Hub lead and to draw on the hub for logistical support for managing NEDs and Departmental Board.
• Support the Business Planning and Secretariat Team Leader, deputising when appropriate and providing surge capacity for other areas of work when required, such as when Outcome Delivery Plans are being developed.