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Job description

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

Group
Chief Operating Officer’s Group

Branch
Social Research Profession

Salary range
SEO - £41,700 - £49,370

Actual starting salary
Bottom of salary range

Work pattern
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)

Type of opportunity
Permanent

Location of Post
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.
Interview dates
TBC

Purpose of Post:

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. While being 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 join a group of researchers working as part of the Government Social Research (GSR) profession. As a Research Officer (RO) or Senior Research Officer (SRO) at the Welsh Government, the post-holders would work closely with policy colleagues and other analysts. Post-holders will be responsible for the development and oversight of a research programme.
Example posts are:

• Housing research SRO. The post will lead on research and evaluation activity across the Housing and Regeneration Directorate on a number of Welsh Government priorities, including Homelessness, Fair Rents and Affordability, Building Safety and Residents Reforms and Housing Decarbonisation. The role involves working closely with other analysts within Welsh Government as well as senior managers from across the organisation and external researchers from many different organisations. The role includes line management responsibility for an RO.
• Schools Research SRO. Research to support policy development and appraisal, to advise on consultation design, to support implementation and impact evaluation for key Welsh Government commitments to make school terms and school holidays optimal for learning and families.
• National Survey for Wales content development SRO. Prioritise survey topics and develop and manage the content of the survey for each survey year. Consult users; identify and prioritise information needs for the short, medium and longer term; agree the prioritisation of survey topics with the Chief Social Research Officer and Chief Statistician; identify, develop and cognitively test question modules or procure and manage contracts to test them; finalise the questionnaire content ready for implementation by the survey contractor; and quality-assure the questionnaire implementation.
• Post-16 education SRO. The post-holder will work closely with policy colleagues, analysts and other stakeholders to lead on supporting the evidence requirements of the Higher Education division, in particular evidence to support student finance reforms and the set-up of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research.
• SRO within Administrative Data Research - Wales. The role will take a lead on helping ensure the utility of anonymous and secure data by making sure the ADR-Wales research projects are relevant to the Programme for Government. The post holder will line manage a Research Officer.
• RO to support the delivery of evidence to support policy areas including the Childcare Offer for Wales, Early Childhood Education and Care, childcare and play policy, Baby Bundles, workforce registration, training and capacity modelling for the childcare and play workforce, and reviews of childcare sufficiency assessments and play sufficiency assessments.
• RO in the newly created Equality, Poverty and Children's Evidence Support Division within Communities and Tackling Poverty. The post will support either Children, Families and Childcare or Social Justice and Poverty research
• RO Housing Conditions Evidence team. Providing support to the wider team on research for a variety of housing and related areas - social housing, conditions, decarb, climate change, standards, private rented sector, building safety, fuel poverty, energy efficiency and analysis of previous Welsh Housing Conditions Survey data.
• Two RO posts to provide research support across the Climate Change area, supporting delivery against Net Zero Wales and A Climate Conscious Wales. Post will involve working with different analysts as well as high profile policy programmes and interventions, including economic analysis and behavioural science.

A number of other RO posts will be available as we are undertaking internal promotion to SRO at the same time.
All posts will involve supporting emerging needs from the relevant policy areas as well as contributing to projects working across different teams in the Research Profession. Please get in touch if you would like to know more about any of these posts or emerging opportunities.

Key tasks:

The indicative key tasks outlined below may not all necessarily be required within a single post and other tasks may also be undertaken. The level of responsibility will vary between Research Officer and Senior Research Officer roles. There will be a greater emphasis on autonomy and leading projects for a Senior Research Officer role.
What your organisation will expect?

• Contribute to the development of an evidence base for policy and influence budget decisions. By providing relevant, timely and reliable evidence.
• Work with policy colleagues and other analysts to support the delivery of departmental evidence plans. By identifying and prioritising research requirements and evidence gaps. Also developing projects that meet departmental requirements.
• Keep abreast of relevant evidence and methods and communicate findings to key policy colleagues.
• Ensure projects and contracts are delivered within deadlines, resource constraints. Also ensuring compliance with appropriate professional standards, by using project management techniques.
• Ensure that sound financial management procedures are followed.
• Promote the effective use of social research in strategy, policy development and delivery. Both across the Welsh Government and externally.
• Contribute to quality/improvement activities within own job, and through the wider GSR network.

What your team will expect?

• Lead and/or manage the development and delivery of research and evaluation projects.
• Support and encourage policy colleagues to develop their understanding of social research. This includes appreciating how social research can support wider Welsh Government aims.
• Advise and support internal colleagues on technical and professional social research issues.
• Ensure any line managed staff are developed. Through the provision of direction, advice and support for training and professional development.
• Deputise for Principal Research Officers as required.
• Contribute to other areas of research and evaluation, as deemed appropriate by line manager.

What your stakeholders will expect?

• Ensure that research findings are communicated effectively. Including findings feeding into policy and service development, delivery and evaluation.
• 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.

Development opportunities:

All posts offer excellent development opportunities, such as being involved in the development and evaluation of key Welsh Government priorities and working alongside senior officials and in some cases Ministers and Special Advisors. There will be opportunities to contribute to the work of the other analytical teams and to corporate GSR activities. The post holders will be encouraged to take up training and professional development opportunities as appropriate. As noted above, the posts would provide any candidates with Welsh language skills with opportunities to use and develop these skills.

Closing Date:

23/02/2023, 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:

• 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.

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

The Welsh Government has adopted the social definition of disability, in which it is recognised that barriers in society act to disable people who have impairments or health conditions, who are neurodivergent or who use British Sign Language. We are committed to removing barriers so that all (or potential new) staff can perform at their best.
We guarantee to interview any disabled person who meets the minimum criteria for the post. By ‘minimum criteria’ we mean that you must provide us with evidence, at each stage of the assessment process before interview, which demonstrates you generally meet the job description requirements. We are committed to the employment and career development of disabled people.
If you have an impairment or health condition, if you are neurodivergent or use British Sign Language and need to discuss reasonable adjustments for any part of this recruitment process, or wish to discuss how we will put in place any adjustments if you were to be successful, please email [email protected] as soon as possible and a member of the team will contact you to discuss requirements and any questions you may have.

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.

Welsh language skills
Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

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/Job Specific Criteria required
Areas to evidence:
Candidates are asked to provide evidence against the following 7 areas in their application;

• Eligibility for GSR membership – meets either the qualification or research experience requirements for GSR membership.
• Research Knowledge – including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This should be evidenced with an overview of your relevant experience.
• Managing research - managing or commissioning research work that meets the needs of policy colleagues and/or customers. This should be evidenced with an overview of your relevant experience.
• Working Together - Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders. Collaborate with these to share information, resources and support.
• Making effective decisions - Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions.
• Communicating and Influencing - Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact.
• Delivering at Pace - Promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation.

Assessment Process

Assessment Process
Please read the Candidate Guidance Document for this vacancy for full assessment details: Guidance for Candidates
Sift Stage
Please remember to complete all 7 of the areas to evidence.
To be eligible to apply for these roles, you must meet the Government Social Research profession entry requirements. Via either the qualification or experience route (evidence area 1):
Hold a minimum of 2:1 in an undergraduate degree or 2:2 with a postgraduate degree
AND
either
[qualification route] 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
[experience route] 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).
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 'Areas to Evidence' section of the advert. Your Personal Statement should not exceed 2100 words (including headings). In your personal statement you should make clear how you are evidencing each of the 7 areas. We recommend roughly one paragraph for each of the 7 areas. Your evidence should address the specific part of the evidence requested rather than the general behaviour.
Information on what evidence is required for 4-7 can be found in the behaviours guidance for success profiles (see Level 3 – HEO and SEO). Instructions can be found on how to respond to evidence in the Candidate Guidance Document: Guidance for Candidates
Sift outcomes are expected to be issued in March at which point you will be able to book an interview slot. If you are successful at sift, you will not be able to request your sift scores until the full assessment process has completed.
Assessment Stage
Candidates who are successful at the sifting stage will be assessed using the Government Social Research assessment approach.
These include:

• A GSR knowledge test;
• An oral briefing exercise which will assess 2, 3 and 6 in the list of areas to evidence;
• A general interview following the oral briefing which will cover areas 4, 5 and 7 from the areas to evidence listed in the advert. In addition you will be asked a question relating to equality in the management of research (area 3) which will ask you to focus on one of: anti racism, social model of disability or coproduction. You can find more information in the candidate guidance and we will also remind you of the details of the assessment process if you are invited to an interview.
• Number 1 in the areas to evidence is only assessed at application stage.

Applicants will be assessed initially for the Senior Research Officer roles at the SEO grade. However if the applicant is not found appointable at the grade, they will be assessed for the Research Officer role at the HEO grade.
If an applicant is graded at SEO (SRO), they will have a starting salary of – £41,700
If an applicant is graded at the lower grade HEO (RO), they will have a starting salary of - £32,460.
For more information and news about the GSR please visit the GSR website –
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service-government-social-research-profession.
For further details of the Assessment Process, please refer to the Candidate Guidance: Guidance for Candidates
Final Outcome
Following assessment candidates will be ranked in merit order. Posts will be offered to the highest scoring candidates according to the merit order.

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.

Other vacancy related information
This recruitment exercise will also be used to set up a reserve list for future RO and/or SRO level posts which may become available on a permanent, temporary or secondment/loan basis in the course of the next 12 months.
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 di

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: £32,460.00 per year