Vacancy -- Commissioners - Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales

Vacancy details

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Meetings are normally held in Aberystwyth, but may on occasion be held elsewhere in Wales.
£198 per day attended plus travel and other reasonable expenses within the recognised limits. You may also be eligible to claim reimbursement for costs in relation to child care/care of the elderly/assistant carer whilst carrying out work on behalf of the Royal Commission.
10
year

Function of body

The Board of Commissioners provides leadership and governance for the organisation, and provides scrutiny and constructive challenge to all of the Royal Commission’s activities. The Board also shapes the future of the organisation. The Royal Commission is keen to appoint individuals who are committed to providing the best possible historic environment service for the benefit of all the people of Wales.


Role description

As a Commissioner, you will:

Review the Organisation’s Operational Plan, taking account of work in progress, the directions contained in the Remit Letter from the Welsh Government and initiatives that originate within the Organisation;

Ensure that the governance of the Organisation complies with the requirements of the Framework document, and that the Organisation’s activities fall within the terms of the Royal Warrant;

Ensure that the performance required of the Organisation by the Welsh Government is attained and that a report is published annually on the Organisation’s activities;

Provide guidance and direction to the expert staff of the Organisation, and to monitor their work, in committee or individually;

Be directly involved in, and take responsibility for, the content of the specialist publications of the Organisation; and

Represent the Royal Commission and its interests when called upon to do so.

Commissioners are also expected to: 

Have an understanding of the historic environment and its significance;

Have a clear vision on how the Royal Commission can continue to work with key partners to provide the best possible historic environment service for Wales;

Work as part of a high performing Board of Commissioners that carries out strong performance management, displays core team behaviours and values, constructively challenges and supports one another, and that continuously measures the achievements of the team against the Commission’s goals; and

Subscribe to and uphold the seven principles of public life (the “Nolan principles”).

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
No skills
No skills
No skills
No skills

Person specification

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria (divided up in ‘essential expertise’ and ‘essential personal skills’) for appointment.

Essential Criteria

The Royal Commission is committed to strengthening and diversifying its board, and so we are looking for two new Commissioners who will have significant expertise in one of the following areas: 

Architectural historian: Religious congregations in Wales are struggling to maintain their historic buildings; only around 30 per cent of Nonconformist chapels are still in use for active worship and many more places of worship will cease to be used for active worship over the next two decades. Closure on that scale will have serious consequences for Welsh heritage. In particular, the chapels of the dissenting, non-conformist and independent communities are most vulnerable to closure, along with the places of worship on non-Christian faiths, such as synagogues; their conversion to other uses usually entails the loss of their organs, pulpits, galleries and seating, stained glass, memorials and other furnishings, books and archives. 

The Royal Commission is responding to this challenge in a number of ways. We have already created a database of some 6,453 chapels and made records of the most significant. We are about to embark on a survey of 20th-century places of worship in Wales. The Royal Commission is an active member of the various bodies that help congregations find alternative community uses for their places of worship and, along with Visit Wales, we are helping to develop the potential for faith and spiritual tourism as a means of earning income for places of worship in Wales. Above all, as the national body of architectural record, we are engaged in emergency recording of those places of worship most at threat through closures, ensuring that they, and their fixtures, fittings and stories, are preserved for posterity. 

To support this work, we wish to recruit an architectural historian or archaeologist to the Royal Commission to help us prioritise our work and to advise the Commission on the most effective means of achieving our objectives as well as acting as an advocate for these key components of the historic landscape in Wales. 

Public policy: In return for grant-in-aid, the Royal Commission is required to align its work and key deliverables to the Welsh Government’s economic and social policies, which are spelled out in a number of high-level strategic documents and statutory provisions, including Prosperity for All, the Welsh Government’s plan for building resilient communities, increasing participation and inclusion in cultural and heritage activities, driving sustainable growth and combating climate change, and promoting good health and wellbeing. Together these policies set out an exciting vision for representing and celebrating the diversity of Wales’s communities, all within a framework that is consistent with the principles of sustainability and of supporting young people to make the most of their potential enshrined in the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act.

To help us to align our activities with relevant Welsh Government objectives and to ensure that we are seen as a progressive organisation with these values at our core, we wish to recruit a Commissioner with experience in public policy and the heritage. You will pay a critical role in advising the Commission on appropriate activities and the kinds of initiative that a heritage body can undertake to support social, economic and wellbeing aims. You will also help us to foster links with political stakeholders and decision makers and act as an advocate for the Commission’s achievements, so that we are valued and esteemed as an organisation that leads the field in progressive heritage policies.

Essential Personal Skills

Candidates will also need to demonstrate that they have:

Strong intellectual and analytical skills;

The ability to represent the Royal Commission in public and communicate effectively with key stakeholders;

An understanding of the diverse communities in Wales and a commitment to sharing the benefits of engagement with Welsh heritage;

The ability to collaborate effectively, and work with and through others to achieve objectives; and

The ability to bring fresh ideas to discussions on both strategic and practical issues.


Interview dates

25 March 2020
27 March 2020

Closing date

17/01/2020, 16:00

Additional information

For further information regarding the role of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and the role of Commissioners, please contact: 

Christopher Catling, the Secretary (CEO)

Tel: 01970 621 200

Email: christopher.catling@rcahmw.gov.uk

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please email publicappointments@gov.wales.

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.  This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4.  Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.  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.