Assistant Private Secretary to The Minister of

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 267314**Salary**:

- £27,950**Job grade**:

- Executive Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- MOD - Head Office & Corporate Services**Type of role**:

- Administration / Corporate Support**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- City of Westminster, London (region), SW1A 2HBAbout the job

**Job summary**:
We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised individual for the position of Assistant Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Defence in the House of Lords (MinLords), at Executive Officer grade. This is an exciting opportunity to join a Ministerial Private Office and work across a broad spectrum of departmental and parliamentary business, gaining invaluable experience along the way.

**What is an Assistant Private Secretary?**

Ministers each have a support team of Private Secretaries known collectively as a Private Office who run their diaries, scrutinise work submitted by the department for approvals, facilitate parliamentary business, prioritise domestic and international engagement, and advise on the best course of action for strategic decision-making.

**What is a Minister of State for Defence in the House of Lords?**

A Minister of State is a formal title attributed to a Ministerial position that sits subordinate to a Secretary of State. In Defence, one of those Ministers is a House of Lords Peer (as opposed to a House of Commons MP), and is referred to internally by the shorthand ‘MinLords’. While we work closely with the Commons Ministerial team including the Secretary of State, this particular Private Office offers a unique perspective on current issues and a different style of parliamentary engagement.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

**Job description**:
**Your Responsibilities**

You will have a diverse, exciting range of responsibilities and will have daily interaction with the Minister, as well as a full range of grades and posts across Government. This includes:

- Diary and travel management, adapting to short notice changes as well as robust forward planning
- Practical arrangements for all meetings, both physical and virtual, including booking in visitors
- Implementing a new information management system using a combination of Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint
- Handling briefings and submissions across a portfolio of policy issues including: Commemorations & Ceremonial duties (e.g. Remembrance), Shipwrecks, Museums & Heritage, and Honours, Awards & Medallic Recognition
- Building a programme of engagement with Defence Opinion Leaders (think-tanks, journalists, academic journals, personalities) to promote the work of the Minister and the department
- Responding to invitations, Freedom of Information Requests (FOIs), written correspondence with MPs and Peers, and general queries coming in from members of the public.

You may also have opportunities to support the Private Secretary (G7) and Assistant Private Secretary (SEO) on domestic and overseas travel where they arise, spanning issues on Devolution & Levelling Up, Climate Change & Sustainability, and travel within Europe and Asia.

You will also need to prioritise workload dependent on emergent issues. At times, there will be a requirement to work extended hours.

**Person specification**:
**Essential Skills**
- Capable of operating under pressure and with the ability to reassess situations, even when details might not be entirely clear
- Capable of building relationships and demonstrating sensitivity for other perspectives
- A team player
- Attention to detail, thorough and focused

**Desirable Skills**

An understanding of the House of Lords

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Changing and Improving
- Leadership
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Changing and Improving
- Leadership

**Benefits**:
We truly believe that the MOD is a great place to work, and we offer a unique employee experience. We want to ensure that every single employee feels appreciated & fairly rewarded and offer the following additional benefits:

- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

You will be entitled to choose between a defined benefit pension scheme or a stakeholder pension with an employer contribution.

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

Please note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

In addition to the salary shown, the successful applicant will also be entitled to £3000 per-annum London Weighting Allowance and £5000 per-annum Private Office Allowance.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which