Vacancy -- Head of Residential Decarbonisation Policy Team

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

Climate Change and Rural Affairs Group
Residential Decarbonisation and Standards
Grade 7 - £53,440 - £63,900
A starting salary between £53,440 and £63,900 will be offered to the successful candidate based on their skills, knowledge and experience and performance at interview. This range is not negotiable.
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Fixed term
Fixed Term Appointment/Secondment 2 years (in fair and open competition).
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:

This post offers an exciting opportunity to be part of the Housing Decarbonisation and Standards team which is responsible for the development and implementation of the Welsh Government’s strategy to decarbonise Wales’ 1.4 million homes, and the supporting standards. 

Welsh homes are responsible for 27% of all energy consumed in Wales and 15% of all our demand-side Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. The retrofitting of these homes is a primary preventative measure as it seeks to improve the energy efficiency of homes and help Welsh Ministers to meet legally binding carbon targets.

Our strategy and investment aims to prioritise social housing, demonstrating best practice, developing supply chains and skills, that will stimulate the market and inform strategy for owner occupied home retrofit programmes. It will require social landlords, their tenants, SMEs, funding bodies and other key stakeholders to work together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. 

Delivery of the strategy focuses on:

  • the Welsh Government’s flagship Optimised Retrofit Programme;
  • developing and securing cross-government and cross-sector support for a strategy to deliver the high level commitments set by Welsh Ministers in the Net Zero Wales Plan for 2021-25;
  • the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS); and,
  • the Welsh Development Quality Requirement (WDQR).

This role will provide strategic leadership and oversight to the development of policy around the Residential Decarbonisation agenda, as well as working across other areas of Welsh Government in relation to the development of new regulations that are dealt with by the Building Regulations Team, and delivery of the Net Zero Wales commitments on housing.

The role will be responsible for the development of an overarching residential decarbonisation strategy and development and implementation of policy in this area.  You will need to develop lessons learned from the ORP programme to inform further developments, considering for example, policy for wider elements of the residential market such as the private rented sector and owner occupiers.  The aim is to develop policy to meet our programme for government commitments as well as our Net Zero Wales targets and to significantly accelerate delivery in this space.

The post holder has responsibility for ensuring robust and evidence-based policy development is taken forward at pace.  They will work closely alongside the programme office for ORP ensuring their learning informs policy direction. 

The post holder may also be responsible for delivery of a small suite of projects testing and informing our policy development activities.

This is a newly created role, reporting to the grade 6, Head of Residential Decarbonisation.  

Key tasks:

  • Work closely with Ministers, colleagues across WG and key strategic partners to ensure that policy-thinking and development aligns with Programme for Government and Net Zero Wales commitments, and is grounded in financial, legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Provide strategic leadership, direction and oversight to the Residential Decarbonisation Policy team.
  • Drive strategic development and implementation of a new Residential Decarbonisation Strategy that supports the delivery of the Net Zero Wales commitments on residential decarbonisation.
  • Working with the Grade 6 to establish and maintain strong working relationships with Ministers - providing effective Ministerial support on all matters relating to the work of the policy development team. This includes leading on management of all Government. 
  • business in this area, including Ministerial briefing, letters and speeches, responses to committee reports, press enquiries, WSQs, OSQs and all other correspondence.
  • Support the wider team to drive the transformational shift needed in policy, culture and practice to implement change and meet targets in relation to the decarbonisation of Welsh Homes.
  • Doing this through stakeholder mapping, management and engagement, listening and building consensus with strategic external partners, in a high profile and sometime contentious policy area with multiple competing interests and views.
  • Through matrix management, engagement and influencing, work closely with colleagues in the Climate Change and Rural Affairs Group.
  • To act as the lead with Local Authorities (LAs), Residential Social Landlords (RSLs), the Private Rented Sector and owner-Occupied homes, ensuring the effective implementation of Government policy and achievement of agreed outcomes.
  • Establish strong working relationships with key senior internal and external partners in all local authorities across Wales, Chief Executives of key third sector organisations and Registered Social Landlords, as well as UK Government, and Welsh Government’s Decarbonisation Implementation Group.

Development opportunities:

This is an extremely high-profile area, attracting considerable political and media interest. The role therefore involves working across Government with a range of senior stakeholders with key policy interests, including, for example, building regulations, decarbonisation, fuel poverty, housing supply, education/ apprenticeships as well as links to areas with significant housing interests i.e. social services. It also involves considerable external engagement at a senior level with local authorities, Registered Social Landlords, and the private sector, especially construction and sector innovators on decarbonisation, and with the Decarbonisation Implementation Group, the Welsh Government’s formal advisory group for housing decarbonisation. This is in addition to active involvement with other Government administrations.

Closing Date:

19/06/2023, 16:00

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
No skills
No skills
No skills
No skills

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

Competencies

Setting Direction – Changing and Improving - Effectively capture, utilise and share customer insight and views from a diverse range of stakeholders to ensure better policy and delivery.

Setting direction - Making Effective Decisions -Draw together and present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data – able to act or decide even when details are not clear.

Engaging People - Collaborating and Partnering - Actively involve partners to deliver a business outcome through collaboration that achieves better results for citizens.

Delivering Results – Delivering Value for Money - Balance policy aspiration and delivery, outline risk and benefits of different options to achieve value for money ensuring all submissions contain appropriate financial information.

Job Specific Criteria

  1. Experience of policy development within complex areas and portfolio inter-dependencies. Knowledge of policy frameworks accompanied by a track record of operationalising policy and successful implementation.
  2. Stakeholder engagement at a senior level on a sensitive policy area, both externally amongst diverse stakeholders, and internally – including challenging stakeholders with conflicting priorities.
  3. Excellent evidence-based judgement and strategic analysis skills – experience of effectively managing complex and technical information from a range of sources including experience of identifying, commissioning, and reporting on complex data to enable effective programme monitoring.

Assessment Process

There are 3 stages to the application and assessment process:

Stage 1 – Submit CV & Personal Statement

Please upload your CV and Personal statement (no more than 2 pages). We are particularly looking for you to demonstrate how you meet each of the Job Specific Criteria. You can find these in the Job Specific Criteria section of the advert.

  • Please note that we will be assessing your CV and personal statement against the job specific criteria listed below . Ensure that your personal statement identifies how you meet the Job Specific Criteria. (approx. 300 words for each criterion).

Stage 2 – Sift of CV

After the closing date, all applicant’s CVs and personal statements will be assessed.

Candidates who successfully demonstrate that they meet the minimum Job Specific Criteria will be sent an online skills test/presentation (title ) duration 5 minutes).

Stage 3 – Presentation

A 5 minute presentation will be required, topic to be advised.

Interviews date is TBC.

Stage 4 – Interview

Your interview will be based on the Skills Profiles or Behaviours/Skills and Job Specific Criteria outlined in the sections of this advert.

At Interview stage you will be asked questions which will allow you to provide evidence (including specific examples) of how you meet each of the Job Specific Criteria and Behaviours and Skills required for this role.

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.
A reserve list will be held for 12 months in the event that any future vacancies arise.
Tanya Wigfall - optimisedretrofitprogramme@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.