Vacancy -- Member (6) - Natural Resources Wales

Vacancy details

Natural Resources Wales
The role can be located anywhere in Wales

Remuneration is based on £350 per day plus reasonable expenses.

 

36
year

Function of body

The natural resources we have in Wales – our trees, seas, hills, fields, water and wildlife - are vital for our future. Without them we would have no clean air to breathe or water to drink. They are a major driver in our economy and help sustain the health and wellbeing of our people and attract visitors to Wales.

 

These resources face increasing demands – from environmental factors such as climate change, and from social and economic factors. It is therefore essential to ensure our environmental resources are managed in the best way possible, to ensure value for money and achieve the best outcomes. This needs to be done in ways which are sustainable, so that Wales’ natural assets are not squandered and are maintained for future generations.

 

Accountability

As a Welsh Government Sponsored Body, NRW is accountable to the Welsh Ministers through the Sponsorship Minister (currently the Minister for Climate Change) and subject to scrutiny by the relevant Senedd Committees. The Board has accountability for ensuring NRW exercises its legislative functions appropriately and effectively. It is also responsible to Welsh Ministers for the ways in which NRW delivers against the Ministerial remit letter.

 

NRW’s Board

The Board consists of a Chair and eleven members together with the Chief Executive. In providing effective leadership for the organisation, the Board, collectively and individually, adhere to Nolan’s Seven Principles of Public Life.

 

In addition to the Nolan principles, the Board will also ensure the organisation meets the requirements of The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The Act puts in place a well-being duty, which is to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales.

 

Collectively, the Board should possess a blend of skills to meet NRW’s current business needs and future goals. Ideally, Board members are pragmatic, strategic, tough-minded and able to offer critical review. They are adept at giving direct guidance and feedback, as well as support when required. They speak their minds and question rather than accept, having the courage to ask difficult questions in a constructive way. All of this whilst bearing in mind NRW is a large and complex organisation which needs to be led day-to-day by the Executive. Therefore, Board members must be interested in making a meaningful contribution to organisational development and be able to deal with the pressure of operating in the public eye.

 

The Board should operate as a team and once decisions are made, individual members must behave collegiately and support the decisions of the Board as a whole and the Executive as they implement the Board’s direction, whatever the challenges.

 

Becoming a member of the Board of NRW offers you the chance to work with, and on behalf of, people who are passionate about the natural resources of Wales. NRW is constantly seeking improvement to create a high performing organisation to fulfil its ambitious purpose.



Role description

We are looking for three new Board members to commence from September 2022:

  1. Board member suitable for appointment as Chair of Board Finance Sub Committee;
  2. Board member suitable for appointment as Chair of Board Flood Risk Management Sub Committee;
  3. Board member with knowledge of the timber and renewable energy markets.

 

One Board member to commence on 01 November 2022:

  1. Board member suitable for appointment as Chair of the Board Audit & Risk Committee.

 

And two Board members to commence on 09 November 2022:

  1. Board member with experience of social/community engagement and the third sector and/or social enterprise;
  2. Board member suitable for appointment as member of the Wales Land Management Forum.

 

We welcome applications for from individuals wanting to be considered for one or more of the roles being advertised. Please be careful to specify in your personal statement which role(s) you wish to be considered for.

Welsh language skills

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.
Desirable
Can read some basic words and phrases with understanding
Can write basic messages on everyday topics
Can understand parts of a basic conversation
Can hold a basic conversation in Welsh

Person specification


All candidates need to demonstrate the following essential skills and behaviours:

Essential criteria: across all roles:

  • Respect for and understanding of the principles of accountability and good governance
  • Judgement in complex decision-making
  • Ability to interpret and challenge financial reports and wider performance issues
  • A focus on our future generations: thinking about the long-term impact of decisions and actions
  • A demonstrable commitment to understanding and championing issues of equality, diversity, and inclusiveness in the workplace, in a leadership role, and/or in service delivery

 

Candidates’ applications will be strengthened by demonstrating some or all of the following desirable skills and behaviours

 

Desirable criteria: across all roles:

  • A commitment to and passion for, tackling the challenges of the climate and nature emergencies, and pursuing and promoting the sustainable management of natural resources
  • Either a public profile or communications and/or digital experience
  • Experience of accounting or finance roles and/or responsibilities (including at board or committee level)
  • The ability to communicate in the Welsh Language (except Role 6 (essential as specified))
    • Understanding: can understand parts of a basic conversation;
    • Speaking: can hold a basic conversation in Welsh;
    • Reading: can read some basic words and phrases with understanding;
    • Writing: can write basic messages on everyday topics.

    Role Specifications

    In addition, we are looking for people who meet the following skills and all candidates should demonstrate the following skills and behaviours relevant to the role (or roles) for which they wish to apply. Please clearly specify which role(s) you wish to be considered for:

     

    Role 1 – Board member suitable to act as Chair of the Finance Committee

    • Experience chairing a senior committee
    • Comfortable interpreting and challenging financial reports and forecasts and wider performance issues
    • A good understanding of public sector finances in Wales would be desirable


    Role 2 – Board member suitable to act as Chair of the Flood Risk Management Committee

    • Experience chairing a senior committee
    • Comfortable interpreting and challenging financial reports and forecasts and wider performance issues related to flood management
    • A good understanding of the risks and issues associated with flood management would be desirable

     

    Role 3 – Board member: timber and renewable energy

    • Knowledge of the timber and renewable energy markets.
    • Private sector experience would be desirable, including commercial activity and social value

    Role 4 – Board member suitable to act as Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee

    • Experience chairing a senior committee
    • Comfortable interpreting and challenging financial reports and forecasts and wider performance issues
    • A good understanding of audit and risk in the public sector in Wales would be desirable

    Role 5 – Board member: social/community engagement

    • Experience of social and/or community engagement, preferably from an environmental perspective
    • Knowledge of the third sector and/or social enterprise

     

    Role 6 – Board member suitable to act as member of the Wales Land Management Forum

    • Experience chairing a senior committee or group that includes a wide range of external stakeholders
    • Experience in land, landscape, forestry or environmental management
    • The ability to communicate in the Welsh Language
      • Understanding: can understand most work-related conversations;
      • Speaking: can converse in most work-related conversations;
      • Reading: can read some routine work-related material with support e.g. dictionary;
      • Writing: can prepare routine work-related material with checking

    Please note: appointment of Board members to Committee and Forum membership positions is a matter for the Board of NRW. If successful in your application to be appointed to the Board of NRW, further appointment into these positions will be a matter for the Board of NRW. In addition, Chairs of Sub Committees currently attract a greater number of days’ remuneration.

    Interview dates

    5 September 2022
    23 September 2022

    Closing date

    27/06/2022, 12:00

    Additional information

    Contacts

    To make an application please visit the Welsh Government’s public appointment website. For queries about the role please email the Welsh Government's Public Appointments Unit.

     

    For details of information events available to prospective candidates please follow this link to take you to pages of the third-party executive search agency which is supporting this process, Green Park Interim & Executive Ltd.

     


    How to apply

    To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

    Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form.  To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents. The first, a document outlining how your knowledge, skills and experiences meet the criteria for the role as outlined in the information for candidates. Please keep this document to within 1,500 words, anything more than this may not be considered by the panel (although the panel’s discretion will be applied in the event you apply for more than one role and we would suggest an additional 500 words per additional role in order to address the specific essential criteria for that additional role would be reasonable).

    The second document is a full, up to date CV.  The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

    In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

    It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

    If you’d like to apply for this opportunity 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.

    If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Team on  PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

    For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments

    Commissioner for Public Appointments logo

    This vacancy is closed to applications.