Job Title: Head of Plant and Bee Health

(CS Jobs REF - 54090)

Grade: Grade 6
No of posts: 1
Location: National
Type of contract: Permanent
Closing date for applications: 28th June 2020

External candidates will be offered a permanent Defra contract.

This includes employees of accreddited NDPBs.
Current Civil Servants will be offered the post on permanent
transfer from their current department to Defra

Candidate Information Pack 1

Welcome The Department Our People

The Role Benefits Vacancy Description

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Why join Defra?
Thank you for your interest in
these roles in Defra
In the Defra group, we deal with a vast range of issues that we would like to hear from you. The Defra group is dedicated to
profoundly impact on people’s lives. We are responsible for having a diverse workforce which represents people in our
England’s environment, our countryside and rural economy, the communities and an inclusive culture where everyone feels they
food and farming sectors and have lead responsibility for protection can be their authentic self at work, belong in the organisation and
from a wide range of natural threats and hazards. Your role will be can speak up to challenge. We want everyone to be able to
critically important to achieving our vision of ‘creating a great place contribute to the success of our organisation, regardless of your
for living’. background.
This is a particularly exciting time to join the Defra group. We are
leading on much of the government’s work to complete a successful
exit from the EU. This will fundamentally change the work we do
and how we deliver it. You will have the opportunity to contribute
towards and influence the development of new approaches and
policies on a wide range of issues affecting millions of people in the
UK.
You will play an active role in shaping and delivering the Defra
group’s priorities, working creatively and collaboratively with others
to deliver excellent outcomes. You will have the opportunity to
develop your own skills and future career.
Your personal qualities will be as important as your professional
experience; and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. If
you believe you have the skills and qualities we are looking for, then

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Why join APHA?

Thank you for your interest in this role in APHA, an Executive Agency Ian Hewett
of Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Ian is Director for Service Delivery in APHA.
The role of Head of Plant and Bee Health is primarily one of providing
leadership and direction to plant and bee teams across England and Ian has worked for Defra for the whole of his career.
Wales; and liaising with Policy customers. We are looking for Ian joined APHA as Director for Service Delivery in
someone for this post who will quickly be able to establish their July 2018, having been both Operations Director
and Programme Director at another Defra Agency,
credibility with staff and stakeholders and harness the team around
the Rural Payments Agency. Ian has spent much of
a clear set of goals and priorities, based on delivering Policy the past 18 months preparing APHA for the UK’s
customer requirements, as expanded by the UK’s departure from the exit from the European Union.
EU. This will include taking and building on the work that has been
started on building a strong, supportive and sustainable culture. It is
this that will be key to ensuring that, in the continuing uncertain
climate in which we operate that Plant and Bee Health is able to
respond in a flexible and adaptable way to the various challenges
that will confront the Agency over the next few years.
The Head of Plant and Bee Health will be accountable for ensuring
that plant and bee health staff are equipped and supported to deliver
business priorities, ensuring that the appropriate quality primarily ISO
standards and operating procedures are followed. Further details
about this role are set out within this information pack. I do hope you
will consider applying to join APHA.
Best wishes.
Ian

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The work you will be doing
Your specific responsibilities will include:
Leadership and managing change:
 Ensuring delivery of plant and bee
services is in accordance with
desired policy outcomes, business
plans and performance targets
seeking improved efficiency and
value for money.
 Responsible for delivering the
APHA vision by contributing to the
corporate leadership of the Agency.
 Role modelling the necessary
performance improvements and
culture changes in their subject
area of influence.
 Providing expert opinion on
inspection activities.
 Leading and line management of
APHA’s Chief Plant Health & Seeds
Inspector, senior Plant and Bee
Health specialists, Plant Varieties &
Seeds and GM teams.
 Functional managing regional
leaders
 Working closely with the Defra’s
Chief Plant Health Officer who is
Head of Profession for plant health
 Proactively managing talent,
building high performing teams,
championing diversity and equality,
employee relations and employee
engagement.
 Ensuring all relevant APHA people
policies and procedures are
deployed.
 Playing an important part in the
strategic thinking and development
of the Agency.
Service Delivery:
 Ensuring operational instructions
reflect policy intent by designing
and advising on audit development.
 Supporting field delivery in making
decisions where there is high
impact and high uncertainty or
policy or political sensitivity
ensuring that those decisions are
based on the best available
evidence.
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The work you will be doing
 Playing an important part in the strategic thinking and
development of the Agency, ensuring the effective delivery
of agreed plant and bee health strategies and policies.
 Ensuring early detection of new or re-emerging plant and bee
related threats through surveillance and intelligence
gathering from a wide range of sources.
 Engaging with the Fera laboratory and its science to ensure
it retains its obligations to support APHA’s plant and bee
health and GM service through the Long Term Supply
Agreement.
 Ensuring the UK and EU obligations of APHA’s Plant
Varieties & Seeds team are met through the monitoring of
KPIs with the corporate customer(s).
 Ensuring APHA’s responsibilities for monitoring for
Genetically Modified Organisms are met
Stakeholder management:
Resilience and risk management:
 Building effective relationships with Defra, Welsh
Government, other Devolved Authorities, the Chief Plant
Health Officer and the Chief Scientific Advisor, Forestry
Commission and with Defra’s stakeholder networks, jointly
with the policy customer, to develop and ensure the
ownership and delivery of plant and bee health in England
and Wales.
 Ensuring APHA and wider government is appropriately and
professionally represented at local, national and international
level, negotiating and influencing to achieve agreed plant
and bee health pest and disease outcomes and
organisational priorities.
 Building effective relationships with Other Government
Departments and Local Authorities to support working
together across areas of joint responsibility and emergency
response.
 Ensuring the programme works effectively with Defra,
international bodies and clients to preventing the introduction
and spread of pests and diseases through effective
implementation of statutory measures and promoting good
biosecurity.
 Representing APHA on national strategic boards such as
Defra’s Plant Health Strategy board.
 Provide or support expert opinion on inspection activities to
customers, partners and stakeholders on all matters relating
to delivery of Plant and Bee Health activities.
 Ensuring the effective delivery of agreed risk management
strategies and policies
 Maintaining an organisational perspective and a global
awareness of relevant external factors, risks, emerging
science and developments as they relate to plant and bee
health and delivery of organisational priorities.
 Ensuring suitable participation in national and international
representation in appropriate forums including the UK Plant
Health Risk Group and the Cross Whitehall Export Group.
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  Providing senior leadership, decision making and direction
for all staff during incidents and in pest/disease emergency
situations, representing Defra as needed in dealings with
local operational partners, stakeholders and the media
 Instilling a safety culture, by embedding safe working
practices.
The post-holder will play a pivotal role in leading APHA’s Plant and
Bee health and welfare. The Head of Plant and Bee Health Services
also retains accountability for local administrative, desk-based
inspection and other APHA support services.
The post is a senior, strategic delivery role requiring an individual
who can successfully lead a geographically dispersed, multi-
disciplinary team, both during and between plant and bee disease
outbreaks. The post holder is accountable for delivering operational
excellence in leadership, service delivery, stakeholder engagement
and customer service in their area, in order to safeguard GB from
plant and bee related threats.
The post holder will be:
- fully accountable for the performance and budgetary management
of their area, responsible for ensuring that all activities are delivered
in accordance with policy, business plans and performance targets,
constantly seeking improved efficiency and value for money.
- responsible for delivering the APHA vision in their Area and
contributing to the corporate leadership of the Agency. The post
holder will role model and promote proactive leadership, embedding
the necessary performance improvements and culture changes in
their Area.
- build and maintain effective relationships with:
 senior Government Policy partners to inform and implement
national policy development; and
 industry stakeholders to influence end user customer
behaviour regarding the delivery of plant and bee health and
welfare strategies and policies are effectively and efficiently
implemented.
 required to contribute to the design, development and
implementation of national policy initiatives and reforms,
undertaking key roles on programme boards, project teams
and working groups. In particular readiness for the UK’s final
departure from the European Union.
Key Tasks:
Leadership and managing change:
- Managing business change programmes and continual
improvement, ensuring stakeholders, staff and TU
colleagues identify with, and are engaged in the change
process from the outset.
- Role modelling and embedding the necessary cultural
changes required for the Agency to thrive, as APHA develops
flexible and digital ways of working.
- Working on a partnership basis with APHA Technical
counterparts, in order to deliver effective professional
management and development.
- Demonstrating high caliber leadership of a large and diverse
professional team, including the Grade 6 Chief Plant Health
and Seeds Inspector, championing best practice in workforce
planning, building capability, talent management, building
high performing teams, diversity and equality, employee
relations and employee engagement. Accountable for
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 demonstrating ongoing performance improvements in these
areas.
- Accountable for ensuring that all APHA people policies and
procedures are deployed consistently and fairly by all
employees within their area.
- Accountable for instilling a safety culture, by embedding safe
working practices, challenging violations, ensuring all
employees are competent in safety matters and actively
identifying solutions to areas of concern.
Service Delivery:
- Accountable for meeting the agreed performance targets for
Scotland, on time and on budget, and to the right quality and
safety standards.
- Responsible for driving efficiency and value for money by
effective budgetary management and the use of innovative
delivery and resourcing solutions.
- Responsible for ensuring robust and effective contract
management in their area by monitoring, evaluating and
improving Service Delivery Partners’ offers and driving a
value for money, quality service.
- To ensure the right standards of customer service are
adhered to, including turnaround times, quality products and
customer centric administration.
- To work with GB national Heads of (Animal Health and
Welfare) Field Delivery to ensure consistent standard and
quality of service delivery across GB
- Expected to play a key part in the strategic thinking and
development of the Agency, ensuring the effective delivery
of agreed public and animal health and welfare strategies
and policies
Stakeholder management:
- Building effective relationships with senior farming and
industry representatives and policy customers, notably Defra
and Welsh Government, to inform national policy
development
- Responsible for delivering a proactive industry stakeholder
engagement for Plant and Bee Health, including delegating
stakeholder engagement activity to the most appropriate
level.
- Seeking and acting on customer insight to inform and
improve service delivery
- Building effective relationships with Other Government
Departments and Local Authorities to facilitate collaborative
working across areas of joint responsibility and emergency
response.
Resilience:
- Ensuring readiness to respond in an outbreak by:
- Promoting, evaluating and continually improving business
continuity and contingency plans
- Building resilience capability and succession pipelines both
internally and with external partners
- Effective and innovative workforce planning to meet
business-as-usual resourcing requirements, with effective
plans in place to meet resourcing requirements during an
outbreak
- Responsible for leading the area response in disease
emergency situations, providing leadership and direction for
8
 all staff, representing Defra in dealings with local operational
partners, stakeholders and the media
- Accountable for pro-actively reviewing business risks in their
area, implementing appropriate mitigation or escalation to
the appropriate level
- Required to cover incidents of exotic notifiable disease and
other incidents and emergencies occurring out of hours on a
rota basis

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Vacancy Information
Job Title and organisation
Head of Plant and Bee Health
Vacancy reference
54090
Location
Various locations across Great Britain – click here for details.
There may a requirement for regular travel to other locations
throughout Great Britain. There will also be a requirement to
attend other locations across the UK on detached duty for longer
periods based on business needs, particularly during a disease
outbreak situation.
We want to support your wellbeing by ensuring that flexible working
is at the heart of our people offer. Our flexible working policies
create an environment in which managers and employees are
happy and comfortable talking about flexible working options. These
include where you work, when you work and how you work. These
discussions help to balance the freedom to choose with the
responsibility to meet business needs.
If you are successful you will be given the opportunity to discuss
your working arrangements with your new manager prior to the
issue of a final job offer.
Grade and Salary
The salary for this post is within the Defra G6 grade band of
National: £56,549 - £65,413, London: £61,096 - £70,666.
Successful candidates will be paid within Defra’s pay ranges.
Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in
accordance with the department’s pay on transfer and pay on
promotion rules.
Contract Type
External candidates will be offered a permanent Defra contract.
This includes employees of accredited NDPBs.
Current Civil Servants will be offered the post on permanent
transfer from their current department to Defra
10
Civil Service Grade Structure

11
Selection Criteria
Your application will be assessed using the Civil Service Success Experience
Profiles recruitment framework. This framework allows us to use a
combination of criteria to describe the requirements of the post to The following Experience criteria are essential to this post and will
candidates. It then allows for candidates to provide evidence be tested at sift:
against those criteria during the selection process. Not all posts will  Experience of successfully leading multi-disciplinary and/or
make use of every criteria. geographically dispersed teams to deliver multiple targets
For this post you will be assessed on the areas set out below. within constrained resources
 Significant budgetary and resource management experience
Civil Service Behaviours  Experience of working in a complex, customer driven
The following Civil Service Behaviours are essential to this post delivery operation to provide a quality service for customers.
and will be tested at interview:  A track record of leading an organisation through a period
of transformational change
 Seeing the Big Picture  Proven track record of strategic leadership and decision
 Changing and Improving making during incident and outbreak response, complex
 Leadership case work, contingency planning, and business continuity.
 Communicating and Influencing  Experience of working within a matrix management system
Full details on the Civil Service Behaviours Framework can be
found here.

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Selection Criteria
Technical

The following knowledge, membership and qualifications are

essential to this post and will be tested at interview:
 Educated to degree level or equivalent
 Must have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English
to enable effective communication with customers and a
sufficient command of spoken and written English to
effectively perform the role being undertaken by a public
sector worker in a customer-facing role
Strengths

A range of strengths relevant to this role may be tested at interview.

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The Application Process
What you need to do to apply
To apply, please complete the advertised CS Jobs application
process by submitting a CV and 750 word personal statement
explaining how you meet the essential experience criteria listed
above.
How your application will be assessed
Your CV and 750 word personal statement will be assessed
against the essential criteria for this role.
How we decide whom to invite for interview
Shortlisting for interview is made on the basis of merit. The
selection panel will assess the evidence presented by all
applicants against the advertised criteria and the highest rated
applicants will be invited to interview.
Interview arrangements
Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to take part
in a role play or briefing scenario followed by a panel interview,
which will assess the behaviours, experience, strengths and
technical skills required for this role. More information on this will
be provided in advance for shortlisted candidates. For more
information see Civil Service Success Profiles.
Other information
Please let us know what adjustments we can put in place to help
you through the recruitment process if you are disabled.
Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post
may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be offered
similar roles across the department.
Defra is committed to ‘name blind’ sifting. That means that
identifying characteristics such as your name, gender, age, address
are removed from your application until after shortlisting for
interview has taken place.
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Recruitment Timeline
Please note that this timeline is indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. The anticipated timetable is as follows:

28th June 2020 23:55

Application Closing Date

Expected 29th June 2020

Sift Commences

Expected 16th-17th July 2020

Interview Commence

Outcomes Expected Mid-July onwards

Interviews are expected to take place remotely via video conference.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process as it may not be
possible to offer any alternative dates for assessments or interviews.

15
Background to Animal and Plant Health Agency
APHA is an executive agency of Defra, providing services to the
Scottish and Welsh Governments, other government departments
and a range of other customers.
APHA is part of the Food, Farming and Biosecurity (FFaB) system;
one of Defra group’s three ‘outcome systems’. The other systems
lead on areas of work related to the natural and marine
environment, rural issues, and flooding and water.
APHA maintain essential disease investigation and response
capability, as well as supporting the trade in plants, animals and
associated products though effective certification, audit and
inspection. We help protect our borders through effective import
controls of animals, plants, seeds and products of animal origin.

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Background to Animal and Plant Health Agency
Our Mission: Working to safeguard animal health and welfare, and
plant and bee health for the benefit of people, the environment and
the economy.
Our Vision: To be an agency that efficiently delivers ministerial
priorities and services with a highly motivated, flexible and skilled
workforce.
Outcomes that we aim to deliver:
 Informed policy making in UK and EU
 Rapid control of pest and pathogen disease outbreaks
 An improved agricultural economy
 Healthier people, plants, animals and environments
 Enhanced food security
 Reduced risk from new and emerging threats
What we do:
 Engage with farmers, industry groups and the public.
 Provide applied expert advice to decision makers.
 Surveillance including for threats
 Risk assessment and management
 Reference laboratories for animal health
 Influence international policy development
 Expert research: playing a part in the wider scientific community
 Inspection, certification and enforcement
 High quality laboratory services
 Rapid emergency response
 Interface between industry and government
Ways we will work:
 We will act in a fair, open and transparent way to achieve
outcomes.
 We will adapt our services and respond to feedback, to enable
us to work more closely and consistently with our customers,
industry and other agencies.
 We will provide cost effective services. We will implement new
charges for our services in a way that recognises the need to
reduce the cost to taxpayers without imposing disproportionate
burden on businesses.
 We will provide an efficient regulatory inspection service to meet
domestic and international statutory obligations and we will
advise and support the industry as a whole to comply with
legislation and we will carry out our enforcement role in a
proportionate and effective way.
 We will take pride in the safe delivery of our work and the
wellbeing of our staff and service users.
 We will provide effective and innovative solutions to policy
challenges by having the right people with the right skills, trusted
to do the right things.
17
Day-to-day Work: Our work covers a wide range of tasks for
diverse customer groups in our bid to safeguard animal, plant and
bee health for the benefit of people, the environment and the
economy. We engage with partners in industry and academia, with
other government departments, laboratories and international
partners to ensure we are able to deliver what is asked of us.
Specifically in 2020/21 this has included:
Managing Plant and Animal Disease Outbreaks.

Useful information
Creating a great place for living:
25 Year Single Departmental Plan (SDP) 2019
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – website
Defra 25 Year Environment Plan

18
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
We passionately believe
in equality, diversity &
inclusion and we match
that belief with action.
Defra is committed to being an organisation in
which fairness and inclusion are central to all
our working relationships. At Defra we want
you to have a respectful, welcoming and
engaging working environment, free from
discrimination regardless of age, disability,
gender identity, marriage and civil partnership
status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion
or belief, sex, sexual orientation, social
background, trade union activity, caring
responsibilities or working pattern. We
encourage applications from neurodiverse
people and believe it is only through having a
mix of ideas and ways of thinking that we will
be able to have a culture which produces high
quality work.
We have many active staff networks including
Age, Mental health, Cancer, Carers, Disability,
EU nationals, Ethnic Minority, Faith, Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Asexual and Transgender
(LGBAT+), Social Mobility, Women and
Worklife Balance. They are supported by
senior champions and encouraged to take an
active part in the development of our
organisation.
We offer career development through a range
of both internal and Civil Service wide talent
schemes, mentoring, sponsorship and reverse
mentoring. Our senior leaders talk
authentically and with passion about what they
are doing personally to support equality,
diversity and inclusion. We promote and
support a range of flexible working patterns to
enable staff to balance home and work
responsibilities, and we treat people fairly
irrespective of their working arrangements.
The inclusion of all of our employees is very
important. We want everyone who works at
Defra to feel they belong here, and we
recognise that everyone will come to us from
different backgrounds and with a range of
different experiences.
We will not tolerate discrimination, bullying,
harassment, victimisation or negative
stereotyping. Our aim is a working
environment where you feel you belong and
have a voice, whatever your job or your grade.
You can read more in our Diversity & Inclusion
strategy.
As a Disability Confident employer, we
positively welcome applications from disabled
people. We are committed to making
workplace adjustments wherever possible to
ensure that disabled people can participate
fully not only in the recruitment and selection
process but when they are appointed into their
job. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme
for all disabled applicants who provide
evidence of meeting the minimum
requirements necessary for the post, as set out
in this applicant pack.
19
Please get in touch with us at any stage of the
recruitment process to discuss how we can
help you whether you have a physical
impairment, a mental health condition or are
neurodiverse.
Once you are appointed your line manager will
work with you to identify how they can put in
place reasonable adjustments to enable you to
carry out your work.
20
Benefits of working for Defra
Pension
Your pension is a valuable part of your
total reward package and you will be
given the chance to join one of two
schemes.
Alpha is a (DB) Defined Benefit pension
scheme based on your careers average
earnings.
As a member you accrue 2.32% of your
earnings each month towards your pension
pot, which is revalued in April each year to
retain its value relative inflation.
Partnership is a (DC) Defined
Contribution pension scheme.
As a member of Partnership you receive a
‘free pension’ meaning a scheme in which
you do not have to contribute. We will
contribute to your pension based on your
age bracket. More information is available
here.
However, if you do chose to make a
contribution towards your pot, we will
match your contribution up to an additional
3%.
Life assurance Your pension will continue
to provide valuable benefits for you and
your family if you are too ill to continue to
work or die before you retire.
Generous Annual Leave and Bank
Holiday Allowance
Annual Leave We offer 25 days annual
leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days) for
full time new entrants to the Civil Service
and those Civil Servants on modernised
terms and conditions. Existing Civil
Servants on pre-modernised terms will
retain these.
Bank Holiday You receive 8 public
holidays a year together with an additional
day in May to mark the Queen’s Birthday.
Staff Bonuses and Staff Recognition
We offer you the opportunity to be
recognised for your work through and end
of year Performance Award.
We also have a Staff Recognition Scheme,
and in-year awards to reward exemplary
work.
Bicycle Loan
We offer interest-free loans towards the
cost of a bike and a Cycle to Work Scheme.
This means we loan you a bike for your
commute as a tax-free benefit. At the end
of the loan period you have the option to
buy the bike, saving 30% of the original
cost
Season Ticket Loan
We offer interest-free season ticket loans,
to you when you have more than three
months’ service so that you have some
help with the cost of purchasing train and
bus season tickets and as well as station
car parking
Employee Discounts
You will have access to our discount
scheme which offers savings at hundreds
of top retailers.
Give as You Earn
We are registered with the Give as You
Earn scheme which enables you to make
regular deductions directly from your salary
in support of a chosen charity. This is
simple and tax efficient.
21
Benefits of working for Defra
Learning and Development
Everyone is supported to develop their
skills and capabilities.
Civil Servants are encouraged to have a
minimum of five days of learning and
development each year. We believe that
you should have access to a range of
learning and development opportunities to
support you in your current and future
roles. You will have accountability for your
own learning as we encourage you to be
an independent and motivated learner.
Induction All new employees will have a
corporate induction. This will help you to
find out exactly what it means to be a civil
servant and what is expected of you.
Throughout the induction journey you will
find out what we do, how we do it, and what
our relationships are with the people we
serve. In addition, all new and returning
employees will also receive a departmental
induction. This will help you to establish
good working relationships with other staff
members and to understand your role and
how you can integrate and fit into the
organization.
Civil Service Learning We offer access to
learning and development with world class
providers through Civil Service Learning
(CSL). CSL’s comprehensive curriculum
offers a mix of different types of learning so
that civil servants can learn in a way that
works for them. The curriculum provides
learning opportunities that cater for civil
servants with opportunities that cover
leadership and management, diversity and
inclusion, personal effectiveness, working
essentials plus professional development.
Civil Service Professions and
Academies There are over 30 cross-
government professions that support civil
servants to deliver a world-class
professional service. We encourage you to
join a civil service profession and access
the learning opportunities, standards,
behaviours and other helpful information
that will help you with your career.
Mentoring and Coaching Mentoring is an
effective means of developing your career,
boosting your confidence and empowering
both the mentor and mentee. You will have
the opportunity to voluntarily engage and
work confidentially with a mentor or coach.
We are also able to provide accredited
external coaches on a case by case basis.
Apprenticeships Some employees will
find themselves able to convert onto an
apprenticeship programme to gain
nationally recognised qualifications
through a programme of training and work
experience.
Other types of development Formal
training can be supplemented by other
development opportunities such as on-
the-job development, job-shadowing, ted-
talks or working with different project
teams to your own.
Talent We have a number of talent
management schemes that aim to develop
talented and high performing staff from all
backgrounds.
Study Leave To support educational,
vocational or professional study activities
you may apply for study leave.
22
Benefits of working for Defra
Staff Wellbeing
We have various measures in place to
assist with your physical and emotional
health.
Flexible working to allow for variations in
your hours from day to day, suiting your
needs, and where this is compatible with
business needs. There is further scope to
work from home, compressed hours and
more.
The Mental Health Network is an
employee-led network which offers
support, information and raises awareness
of mental health issues.
Employee Assistance Programme is a
free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice
service available to our staff.
Our Occupational Health Service (OHS)
provides a range of support services to
help with the way you feel at work.
Other Benefits Include
Volunteering Each year you will be
entitled to three 3 days special leave with
pay to volunteer. We encourage you to
take up this offer as volunteering can be a
great way to share skills with worthy
charitable causes, while developing new
insights and stronger links with the civil
society sector.
Reservists We fully support reservists and
offer 15 days paid special leave for
training.
You can join the Civil Service Sports
Council (CSSC).The CSSC organises a
wide choice of activities throughout the UK,
from art, gliding, abseiling and orienteering
to cabaret weekends and quiz and curry
nights. Members also gain access to
hundreds of national and local offers,
including free entry for you, one other adult
and up to 6 children at English Heritage
and Cadw sites and free entry for you and
up to 3 children at RBG Kew. There are
also savings at many high street stores,
cinemas, restaurants and historic houses.
Further information is available at the
CSSC website.
Our offices offer a range of different onsite
facilities including staff restaurants,
showers, cycle storage and fitness
facilities.
Free access to Neyber which is a free
Financial Education Hub and provides
guidance on how to manage your finances
including information on credit scores,
pensions, buying your first house,
becoming debt-free and much more.
23
Other matters
Disability Confident Scheme for Disabled Persons
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal
opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme
(DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum
selection criteria. You should indicate this on your application form
if you would like to be considered under this scheme.
Equal Opportunities
Defra values equality and diversity in employment. We are
committed to being an organisation in which fairness and equality
of opportunity is central to the approach in business and working
relationships and where the organisational culture reflects and
supports these values. In Defra you have the right to a working
environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and
victimisation regardless of race, ethnic or national origin, age,
religion, sex, gender identity, marital status, disability, sexual
orientation, working hours, trade union membership or trade union
activity.
Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles
Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the
basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service
Commission’s Recruitment Principles. The Civil Service
Commission has two primary functions:
Providing assurance that selection for appointment to the Civil
Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
Hearing and determining appeals made by Civil Servants under
the Civil Service Code which sets out the Civil Service values –
Honesty, Integrity, Impartiality and Objectivity.
More detailed information can be found at the Civil Service
Commission website
http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/.
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Contact us
If you have any questions about the posts detailed in this pack then please email:
Defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk quoting the reference in the subject header.