Vacancy -- Social Research Profession - Grade 7 - Head of Race Disparity Evident Unit x1 and Head of Disability Disparity Evidence Unit x1

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Vacancy Details

Education, Social Justice and Welsh Language Group
Social Research Profession
Grade 7 - £53,440 - £63,900
Bottom of salary range
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Permanent
Pan Wales
'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.
TBC

Purpose of Post:

Please see below for the details of the post(s) and a short description of the roles that are being recruited to via this advert;

Our aim is to help the First Minister and Welsh Ministers to build a fairer, greener and more equal Wales. We are looking for passionate and capable people from all walks of life. Previous experience as a civil servant is not a requirement. We are looking for people who can bring different lived experiences to our decision making and are able to thrive in collaborative teams that will help change the way we think. We are looking for applications from diverse candidates who can bring fresh skills, lived experiences and perspectives to our work.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a team of analysts working as part of the Government Social Research (GSR) profession and Government Statistical Group (GSG) as well as policy officials within the Communities and Tackling Poverty Directorate of Welsh Government. There are 2 Principal Analyst (Grade 7) posts available within the three newly established Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units:

•    Head of the Race Disparity Evidence Unit.
•    Head of the Disability Disparity Evidence Unit.

There are two entry routes for these roles The post holder can be either a Principal Social Researcher or a Principal Statistician. The candidate should choose whether they wish to apply under Government Social Research route or Government Statistician Group or both. If the candidate chooses to apply for both routes, they must submit two applications to be considered under each profession.These are fast-paced teams, and the successful post-holder must be comfortable with juggling priorities and dealing with sometimes conflicting views and priorities of stakeholders with whom we work and engage. The post-holder will need to be flexible and adaptable to changing work requirements and priorities, especially during the first year of the Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units set-up. The post-holder will be expected to manage your team through a changing environment as required. The post-holder’s team will support emerging longer-term needs from relevant policy areas as well as leading cross-cutting projects working jointly with different teams in the Analytical Professions. As a team leader the professional development of the team members will be an important part of the role as will a contribution to the management and leadership of the Social Research profession.

The work of the Race Disparity Evidence Unit and the Disability Disparity Evidence Unit will include investigating long-standing problems underpinned by sufficiently robust statistics and research across the Welsh Government and the wider public sector in Wales; improving the collection of data; and delivering innovative ways to address ongoing evidence needs relating to ethnicity or disability; developing an evidence plan that will address those needs This plan will have a high level of political and stakeholder interest. The post-holder will identify, coordinate, and prioritise ethnicity or disability related analytical requirements for the organisation, from both internal and external stakeholders.

Race Disparity Evidence Unit: 

The post-holder will lead the Race Disparity Evidence Unit evidence programme, which is expected to span a wide range of policy topics and the nature of its individual projects can vary considerably. The post-holder will be responsible for the leadership and oversight of improvements to a range of ethnicity related statistics and social research including bespoke projects delivered by the Race Disparity Evidence Unit. An interest in Anti-Racist approaches would be essential as would an understanding of the range of barriers faced by individuals in Wales from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The post-holder’s team will consider ethnicity through an intersectional lens, so you will need to be familiar with a range of equality considerations. For example, knowledge of the Social Model of Disability and of barriers faced by LGBTQ+ communities would be desirable.

Disability Disparity Evidence Unit: 

The post-holder will lead the Disability Disparity Evidence Unit evidence programme, which is expected to span a wide range of policy topics and the nature of its individual projects can vary considerably. The post-holder will be responsible for the leadership and oversight of improvements to a range of disability related statistics and social research including bespoke projects delivered by the Disability Disparity Evidence Unit. An interest in the Social Model of Disability would be essential as would an understanding of the range of barriers faced by disabled people in Wales. The post-holder’s team will consider ethnicity through an intersectional lens, so you will need to be familiar with a range of equality considerations. For example, knowledge of the Anti-Racist approaches and of barriers faced by LGBTQ+ communities would be desirable.

This recruitment exercise will also be used to set up a reserve list for future G7 level posts which may become available on a permanent, temporary or secondment/loan basis in the course of the next 12 months.This advert is for a permanent contract with the Welsh Government; however, the role is also available as a lateral transfer from another Government Department if successful. The role will be available as a loan from another Government Department (if a loan is requested at the offer stage rather than a permanent move). You can browse through Welsh Government work and gain a better understanding of the Civil Service in Wales by visiting the Welsh Government website and watching our welcome to the Welsh Government recruitment campaign (British Sign Language and non-BSL versions available).

Key tasks:

Research programme:

  • Develop evidence that is in line with anti-racist and social model of disability approaches (and other relevant equality disciplines).
  • Work closely with policy colleagues and other analysts, to identify and prioritise research requirements and evidence gaps, and to develop a programme of research that meet Welsh Government requirements taking into account priorities and the available resources as well as how the work supports the Programme for Government and the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
  • Provide leadership and strategic input into the development and delivery of research and evaluation projects of the branch, ensuring they follow the GSR Code and Publication Protocol;
  • Identifying opportunities for new research and innovation in methodology;
  • Support and encourage policy colleagues to develop their understanding and appreciation of how social research can support wider Welsh Government aims;
  • Contribute to the development of an evidence base for decision making by providing relevant, timely and reliable evidence;
  • Ensure that research findings are communicated effectively and feed into policy and service development, delivery and evaluation;
  • Ensure that research contributes to cross cutting social research projects that straddle policy areas.

Advice:

  • Providing advice on the existing evidence base including written advice and Ministerial briefing as required.
  • Provision of advice on appropriate research methods for both KAS delivered work but also support to colleagues on methodology issues.

Building links:

  • Engage with and build trusted relationships with a range of stakeholders who represent equality communities.
  • Develop and maintain strategic links with the wider research community within Wales, the UK and internationally;
  • Work with other public sector organisations where common areas of interest are identified.

Other research activities:

  • Keep abreast of relevant evidence and methods and communicate findings to relevant policy colleagues;
  • Provide advice and support to internal colleagues on technical and professional social research issues;
  • Contribute to other areas of research and evaluation, as deemed appropriate by line manager.

Management: 

  • Role-model application of anti-racist and social model of disability approaches and other relevant equality considerations.
  • Ensure any line managed staff are developed through the provision of direction, advice and support for training and professional development;
  • Ensure projects and contracts are delivered within deadlines, resource constraints and to appropriate professional standards, by using project management techniques;
  • Ensure that sound financial management procedures are followed;
  • Developing capacity where necessary for example through negotiating additional resources, secondments, ESRC internships etc.;
  • Undertake a leadership role as a member of the branch and divisional management team;
  • Deputise as required for senior staff.

 Corporate GSR activities:

  • Promote the effective use of social research in strategy, policy development and delivery across the Welsh Government and externally;
  • Contribute to quality/improvement activities within own job, and corporately through the wider GSR network.

Development opportunities:

The post holder will be providing support to policy areas that include high profile government commitments, as a result the post holder will have significant opportunities to work with senior policy officials and also Ministers. There are also opportunities to work collaboratively with other analysts within Welsh Government and academia. The post holder will manage a programme of work with conflicting priorities and be involved in setting strategic direction for the division.

Closing Date:

28/11/2022, 12:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Desirable
Can read simple material on everyday topics with understanding
Can hold simple work-related conversations
Can understand basic conversations about everyday topics
Can write simple work-related correspondence

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

Behaviours:

  1. Seeing the Big Picture - Develop and maintain an understanding of economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to ensure activity is relevant.
  2. Leadership - Welcome and respond to views and challenges from others. despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them.
  3. Communicating and Influencing - Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
  4. Working Together - Understand the varying needs of the team to ensure they are supported and their experiences are utilised.
  5. Knowledge of Anti-racism, and Social Model of Disability – outline your knowledge of Anti-racist approaches and/or the Social Model of Disability and how you would apply this when overseeing the production of research. This should be evidenced with an overview of your relevant experience. 
  6. Hold a minimum of 2:1 in an undergraduate degree or 2:2 with a postgraduate degree AND either a relevant social science subject at undergraduate or postgraduate level which contains substantial social research methods training (we would expect social research methods to represent around a third of modules taken).Or at least 4 years’ social research practice experience (this would be experience designing, managing and conducting research in a research agency, market research agency or specialised research team. For this route you must make explicit the breadth and depth of your research experience and skills) Current GSR members only – also state that you are a GSR member. 
  7. A track record of designing / managing research projects and translating policy questions into viable research specification or in-house projects. This should be evidenced with an overview of your relevant experience. 
  8. Able to demonstrate a sound approach to evidence planning, helping the customer to understand the value of a strong evidence base and the importance of using appropriate methods and data sources. This should be evidenced with an overview of your relevant experience.



Assessment Process

Please read the Candidate Guidance Document for this vacancy for full assessment details: 

Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Unit recruitment: guidance for candidates | GOV.WALES

To apply for this opportunity, you will need to submit a CV (no more than 2 sides of A4) and a personal statement.

The personal statement should evidence the Behaviours and Experience criteria. These are listed in the `Competencies/Job Specific Criteria' section of the advert for your chosen profession route. Your Personal Statement should not exceed 2400 words (including headings). In your personal statement you should make clear how you are evidencing each of the 8 areas. We recommend roughly one paragraph (300 words) for each of the 8 areas. Your evidence for the behaviours (5-8) should address the specific part of the evidence requested rather than the general behaviour. 

Sift Stage: 

Please remember to complete all 8 of the areas to evidence.

To reduce bias within the application process, we will be sifting the applications without identifiers, so please do not include any information that could identify you within your CV or Personal Statement. This includes your name and the institution name where you obtained your qualifications.

If you are successful at sift or the knowledge test stage, you will not be able to request your scores for these until the full assessment process has completed. Candidates who do not pass the sift or knowledge test may request scores once notified of their outcome.

Assessment Stage: 

Candidates will be assessed for suitability for the Social Research Grade 7 opportunity through a two staged assessment process. As part of the first stage of assessment, you will be expected to undertake a GSR Knowledge Test. Candidates who are already GSR members will not need to sit the knowledge test, please let us know whether you are a GSR member already and we will seek confirmation of this from your head of profession.

Candidates will receive a link via email to undertake the GSR Knowledge Test. Candidates will have a week to complete the GSR Knowledge Test. Candidates who need recruitment adjustments are encouraged to contact the recruitment team as early as possible during the application process. All successful candidates will receive their Knowledge Test outcome by email and be invited to book an interview slot. The second stage of assessment will include an interview and presentation.

For further details of the Assessment Process, please refer to the Candidate Guidance. 

Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Unit recruitment: guidance for candidates | GOV.WALES

Final Outcome: 

Following both assessment events, candidates will be ranked in merit order and posts will be offered to the highest scoring candidates according to the merit order. There will be a merit order for research and for statistics, we will use the merit orders to fill the posts.

If an applicant is successful, they will have a starting salary of £51,380. Where the candidate is successful on a lateral loan from another Government Department, the starting salary will be moved to the closest (higher) amount on the Welsh Government Grade 7 pay band.

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.

Candidate Webinar: 

We will be holding an MS Teams webinar on 10/11/2022 at 10:00 - 11:00 to provide further details on the role and application process where there will be the opportunity for prospective candidates to ask further questions and meet the line managers. If you would like to attend one of these webinars, please sign up to one of our Eventbrite events (Head of Race x1 and Disability x1 Evidence Units -Virtual Candidate Webinar Tickets, Thu 10 Nov 2022 at 10:00 | Eventbrite) to receive reminders or use the following joining instructions:

10/11/2022 at 10:00 - 11:00 

Join on your computer or mobile app

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Meeting ID: 340 596 007 380
Passcode: Di4YtJ

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United Kingdom, Cardiff

Phone Conference ID: 817 421 391#

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Commitment to Diversity: 

The external environment has demonstrated that we need to listen to and understand the experiences of those who are currently under represented in the Civil Service in Wales. This includes Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, people from disadvantaged communities and disabled people.

We work hard to create a supportive and inclusive environment for all staff to grow and perform to the best of their ability. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are under-represented in the Civil Service in Wales. We are committed to supporting all staff to thrive in an inclusive working environment.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation.

Recruitment Adjustments: 

Welsh Government is committed to the social model of disability. We will make reasonable adjustments to remove any barriers in the recruitment process and workplace adjustments. We will ensure equality for staff with impairments, health conditions or who use British Sign Language. We can make adjustments to any part of the recruitment process (the application as well as the assessment centre). We will match disabled candidates to roles which are compatible with workplace adjustments.  We can provide advice to staff who think they do or might need reasonable adjustments but who need to know more about the assessment process. We can advise on what sort of adjustments we could make to ensure fair assessment. 

If you know you need (or think you might need) any type of reasonable adjustment to make an application, please e-mail SocialResearchRecruitment@gov.wales. Please do this as soon as possible to discuss any required adjustments.

Disability Confident Scheme (GIS): 

We guarantee to interview anyone who is a disabled person, whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Loans: 

Loans are only open to existing Civil Servants, recruited to the Civil Service via fair, open and on merit competition. As secondment opportunities are not being offered, individuals who are employed by non-departmental bodies are not eligible to apply. Individuals moving on Loan will be subject to the Civil Service Transfer Principles (How to Move Jobs Between Departments and Agencies). Unless the agreement is for less than 6 months, successful individuals will move to the Welsh Government’s terms and conditions.

Unless otherwise stated in the Job Advert, Loans are not expected to gain a permanent transfer or permanent promotion to Welsh Government (this is subject to the ongoing need for the role and funding being confirmed at the end of the loan period) and unless otherwise stated in the advert, only those applying laterally are eligible to apply. Individuals on loan will be expected to return to their home department at the end of the agreement and to their substantive grade.

Rebecca Sarasin - 03000253020 - SocialResearch.Recruitment@gov.wales

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.