Summary
This position is with the Office of Government Property within the Cabinet Office, on a programme delivered jointly by Cabinet Office and the LGA. This position is based in the North East.
Job description
The One Public Estate (OPE) programme is jointly delivered by the Office of Government Property (OGP) in the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association (LGA). It supports cross-public sector working to deliver ambitious property-led projects that create local economic growth, integrate public services and drive efficiency savings. At its heart, it’s about local and central government working together with other public bodies to deliver a better service to the customer and better value for money for the taxpayer.
We take a place-based approach, supporting projects that make a difference for local communities, and we support delivery of the Government Estate Strategy.
To date we’ve enabled release of public sector land that has generated over £300m in capital receipts and almost £60m in running cost savings, with capacity for more than 6,000 homes. We’ve also taken great pride in bringing partners together, for example, through the British Property Federation (BPF) Futures Challenge where OPE has brought public and private sector professionals together to generate innovative ideas to reinvigorate a high street; and through the Homes for NHS Staff Toolkit, which will help NHS estate owners and local authorities to secure affordable housing for NHS staff.
We’ve provided early stage funding for over 600 projects and we’ve got ambitions to deliver much more. Supporting these partnerships to deliver their projects will be paramount for the programme going forward, as will supporting emerging new priorities such as sustainability.
The Office of Government Property
The Office of Government Property (OGP) is the guardian of the government estate. It was established in 2010 to work with central government departments to drive savings across the government estate. It also now works with a range of local authorities to support them in achieving a public sector estate in a locality which is cost-effective, supports better integrated public services, and exploits surplus land and property to boost growth.
As a business, and as a group of people, we're amazingly diverse. We are committed to recruiting and developing the best people regardless of their race, gender, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, age or background. But we've all got a few things in common: We're ambitious. We're open-minded. We enjoy working together. We're flexible. We deliver results. We embrace smarter working. And we're excited by the future. Good thing, too – after all, we're leading government’s thinking to change how the Civil Service will work in future: where staff are trusted, managed by outputs not attendance, and work flexibly in locations in London, Leeds, Manchester and home-based, using innovative technology.
We also take the time to care. We listen to the people we work with. We involve them in how we develop as a business.
And we make sure that everybody here has the resources and support they need to achieve the remarkable.
The Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is at the centre of Government, co-ordinating policy and strategy. Headed by the Permanent Secretary and comprising a number of different business units, the Department has three core functions that enable it to achieve its overarching purpose of making Government more effective:
- Supporting the Prime Minister – to define and deliver the Government's objectives.
- Supporting the Cabinet – to drive the coherence, quality and delivery of policy and operations across departments.
- Strengthening the Civil Service – to ensure the civil service is organised effectively and has the capability in terms of skills, values and leadership to deliver the Government's objectives.
We are looking for a Regional Programme Manager (RPM) to provide direct support and expertise to local public sector partnerships in the North East; to help them develop and drive delivery of their property projects with an effective cross-public sector approach to land and property.
RPMs work in regional teams of two, split between the LGA and Cabinet Office, and are supported by a Regional Advisor.
You will work together to oversee, support, and challenge local partnerships. You will also take on responsibility for engagement with one or more central government departments, leading strategic engagement for the OPE programme and helping to deliver the Government Estate Strategy.
Specific responsibilities include:
- Leading engagement with senior leaders in local authorities and central government departments (up to Chief Executive level) to drive ambitious OPE programmes and deliver strategic objectives that achieve excellent outcomes across the public sector.
- Stakeholder support to deliver current projects and progress new opportunities by brokering relationships, unblocking issues, sharing best practice and managing risk.
- Identifying opportunities to expand the programme and best support its stakeholders, including recognising current and future capability gaps and working to address these.
- Identifying and progressing opportunities to support Government Estate Strategy objectives and new, emerging priorities such as sustainability; driving innovation and creative ideas.
- Working closely with Homes England colleagues on a regional basis to progress the housing agenda and facilitating better outcomes by working together.
- Creating and maintaining strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders.
- Encouraging partnerships to embed an OPE business as usual way of working, identifying alternative investment and helping to navigate other government funding streams.
- Contributing to programme-wide communications, including events and case studies; and playing a leading role in regional and national communications.
We’re looking for a candidate who can demonstrate strong leadership and who is comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy. You’ll need experience of working with the public sector and an understanding of the operational and political environment that influences central and local government estate strategies. You’ll be working closely with senior leaders and will need to be effective at building strong relationships to unblock barriers, influence stakeholders and offer appropriate challenge.
We have a diverse mix of skills across our team which includes housing, valuation, programme and project management professionals. We are keen to complement this expertise and would welcome candidates with experience in property finance, deal structuring or capital programmes.
In return, we’ll offer you a supportive environment to grow your skills and experience, with a clear portfolio of responsibilities that will support your leadership development. We will listen to your ambitions, make best use of your experience and we’ll encourage and support relevant technical and professional development too.
The Regional Programme Manager post will cover the North East and the postholder will need to be flexible in their working pattern and travel arrangements, Due to the nature of this role, candidates will preferably be based in or around the Leeds area, for ease of travel. The postholder will also be required to travel to OGP’s head office in London on a regular basis.
Person Specification
During the assessment process we will assess you against the following skills, experience and behaviours.
Specialist skills and experience
Essential
- Experience working with central and/or local government
- Excellent stakeholder management skills
- Ability to work with autonomy
Desirable
- Background and knowledge of public sector property
- Housing, planning, valuation, property finance, deal structuring or capital programme experience
- Project and programme management expertise
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours at interview:
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Leadership
Strengths
We will assess you against the Civil Service Strengths at interview.
Guidance on the Civil Service Success Profiles can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally require 3 years’ UK residency in the past 3 years. This is not an absolute requirement but supplementary checks may be required where individuals have not lived in the UK for the required period. This may mean that your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.
To apply
For further information and to apply online, please visit our website here.
Closing date: 3:55, Sunday 05 January 2020
Interview date: Expected 28 and 31 January 2020