Legal and Data Services Policy Assistant

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

This role supports the delivery of legal and data services across the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority), including the ONS and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The Authority is an independent body at arm’s length from government and has the statutory objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that ‘serve the public good’.

The Legal and Data Services (LDS) team provides expert guidance and operational support in areas such as legal advice, Freedom of Information (FOI), Data Protection, ethics, accreditation for the purposes of statistical research, and complaints handling. You will work within the LDS branch within the Strategy & Policy division. The branch plays a critical role in ensuring the organisation operates within legal frameworks, maintains public trust, and upholds high standards of transparency and accountability.

The primary focus for the LDS is to support the National Statistician, Permanent Secretary, senior executives, and the wider organisation to manage the governance of the access, use and sharing of data for research and statistical purposes, whilst ensuring compliance with relevant legislation.

Working within LDS, you will be part of a multidisciplinary team at the forefront of legal and data governance. You will provide practical and administrative support across a wide range of areas, including data ethics, Digital Economy Act accreditation, and other legal services. The role will see you supporting collaborative working and engagement with the National Statistician's Data Ethics Advisory Committee, the Research Accreditation Panel and the wider data research community.

This is a fast-paced and varied role, offering the opportunity to work flexibly across the LDS team.

Key Responsibilities

The Legal and Data Services Policy Assistant role will carry out a variety of supporting tasks which may include:

• Coordinating communications with relevant stakeholders, management of correspondence and research tracking systems within the team.
• Providing administrative and secretariat support for the National Statistician's Data Ethics Advisory Committee and the Research Accreditation Panel.
• Support with the development of strong effective relationships with key stakeholders across the Authority and wider researcher community.
• General branch support for the LDS team.

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.

Visa Sponsorship

ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application process

Number of Stages: 2-stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

Step 1: Online Civil Service Verbal Test.

Upon submission of Part 1 of your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete an online Civil Service Verbal Test. There will be full instructions on how to complete the test including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. The test is not time limited.

If you fail the test your application will not proceed to the next stage.

If you pass the test for this vacancy, you will be invited to complete the final stage of your application, this is where you will provide information such as your work history, skills and experience and personal statement.

Step 2: Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1000 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews will be held in person at our Titchfield and Newport offices.

Titchfield office address: Segensworth Road, Titchfield, Fareham, PO15 5RR.

Newport office address: Cardiff Road, Newport, NP10 8XG.

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

Important Dates:

The Sift will be conducted from 6th November.

Interviews will be conducted week commencing 23rd November.

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachments.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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