Head of Resilience Planning

The Incident Response Team (IRT) is responsible for DCMS’s crisis response planning and preparation. We work on a range of issues across the department and Whitehall - these are only growing as we take on responsibilities around cyber, telecoms, subsea cables and mis/dis-information following the recently Machinery of Government change.

We frequently engage with a range of cross-Whitehall resilience and response fora to represent DCMS interests. We deal with everything from immediate response to small crises through to planning for some of the most significant risks facing the nation.

The team has taken a greater role in resilience across the department in recent months, working with various teams to understand the impacts of different risks, identifying mitigations and developing response plans. This is an exciting time to join the team as the digital responsibilities coming to the department demand a new approach to resilience and updated governance.

Part of the Performance, Projects, Inquiry & Response division in the Project Delivery and Major Events directorate, we are a small team currently located across offices including London, Manchester and Cardiff.

Leading an exciting, varied and challenging portfolio of work to grow DCMS’ resilience capability, you will building strong relationships across the department and Whitehall. You will develop our approach to resilience as we identify and explore acute risks facing the department. You will explore their impacts and offer frameworks for prioritising accordingly, allowing senior leaders to allocate limited resources effectively. You will then play a key role in building and testing the contingency plans that support resilience to these risks.

Ownership of different risk areas across the team will become clearer as the Machinery of Government changes bed in. You may be responsible for cohering plans across the department for responding to catastrophic impacts on our Critical National Infrastructure. Alternatively, you could be working with teams that are building our approach to resilience in the voluntary and community sector as we seek to maximise the impact of voluntary organisations in response to national crises and improve the UK’s societal resilience.

Working with partners across Whitehall, you will maintain a clear understanding of wider government resilience policy, identifying where this will affect DCMS and preparing responses as necessary. You will represent DCMS’ interests and policy goals at cross-government fora.

As part of the wider resilience and response team, you will be expected to take part in an out of hours duty rota. Overtime and/or TOIL will be available. You will also need to have, or be prepared to go through the process to acquire, Developed Vetting status.

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)

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

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the experience success profile:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates.

For the shortlist, we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and experience.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Prior to the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions in advance.

You will also be required to prepare a presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview.

Your interview will take place remotely via Teams.

For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack.

Further Information

If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only. Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Candidate Information Pack’ attached.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or a verbal test rather than a written one.

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Feedback

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