Vacancy -- Health Improvement Specialist - Illegal Tobacco

'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.

An experienced and qualified Trading Standards Officer, with an awareness of the challenges posed by illegal tobacco is required for this post.

The post holder will lead on implementing the Wales Illegal Tobacco Programme aimed at tackling illegal tobacco supply and use in Wales. The post holder will be responsible for reducing the market share of illegal tobacco, raising community awareness, and signposting buyers to support services. The post will work closely with and lead a wide network of stakeholders to reduce the impact of illegal tobacco in delivering our Tobacco Control Delivery Plan for Wales 2017-2020, and its successor. The post holder’s work will also contribute to the long term vision as set out in A Healthier Wales: our Plan for Health and Social Care.

The post holder will be responsibility for implementing the Wales Illegal Tobacco Programme.

The post holder will:

• Create and lead an alliance of stakeholders with an interest in the supply and demand of illegal tobacco in Wales.
• Work with enforcement agencies on improving reporting mechanisms and develop pathways to ensure intelligence reports reach the appropriate organisation.
• Develop performance reporting procedures to monitor local authorities’ enforcement activity against intelligence reports. These reports will be fed back to the Tobacco Control Strategic Board.
• Work with enforcement bodies and stakeholders to ensure activity taken to tackle illegal tobacco is publicised, and the cost of selling illegal tobacco is more widely understood.
• Work with government departments to strengthen existing enforcement and increase the consequences of those selling illegal tobacco. This would include:
• Work with Public Health Wales and stakeholders on a community campaign and press activity aimed at reducing comfort levels of illegal tobacco in their community. This activity would focus on pre-agreed and tested messaging.
• Keeping up to date with relevant research.
• Developing mechanisms to measure the impact of the policy interventions.
• Advise on the use of a small programme budget to support enforcement of illegal tobacco and associated communications work.
• Provide a crucial link between Public Health and Trading Standards to support the public health measures.
• Review how existing policy can support the Programme as well as how the legislation and policies currently being developed can be strengthened to tackle illegal tobacco.

Provide advice and support to policy leads as required on all aspects of illegal tobacco.

The post provides an opportunity for the post holder to implement a diverse programme of work to tackle illegal tobacco in Wales.  All aspects of the role will require strong leadership and an ability to co-ordinate multiple work streams and a wide network of stakeholders. This post provides the opportunity to gain experience of leading and developing suitable interventions on a Wales-wide scale. 

The post holder will also gain experience of working across government and on tobacco related policy development and legislation implementation. This will include providing advice to policy officials, the Chief Medical Officer and Ministers. 

11/03/2020, 16:00

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:

• UK Visas and Immigration - GOV.UK

• Nationality rules – GOV.UK

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

• 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.

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability 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 a disability 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)

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.