Administrative Support

at  Ministry of Justice

Salary
The national salary range is £25,752 - £27,116, London salary range is £28,636 - £31,732. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Number of jobs available
1
Detail of reserve list
12 Months
Region
National
City/Town
National
Building/Site

NATIONAL

Grade
AO
Organisation Grade for HMPPS
Band 3
Post Type
Permanent
Working Pattern
Full Time
Role Type
Administration / Corporate Support
Will the successful applicant have line manager responsibilities?
No
Job description
The Prison Contracts Group (PCG) group sits within the Directorate of Contracted Operational Delivery (DoCOD) which is responsible for the operational contract management of a large portfolio of contracts, including Prisoner Escort Custody Service, Electronic Monitoring, Community Rehabilitation Services, Prisoner Education and Operational Contracts for a variety of goods and services.
PMP contracts alone have an annual value of £564m. PMPs were first introduced to the UK in 1992 when the Conservative Government issued short-term contracts to security companies to operate a limited number of publicly owned prisons, the first being HMP Wolds in Yorkshire which was operated by G4S. The first wholly private prisons were often financed through the use of a Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) under private finance initiatives (PFI). These were often known as DCMF prisons as they were designed, constructed, managed and financed by the private sector, the first being HMP Altcourse which opened in December 1997 and was operated by G4S.
There are currently 15 privately operated prisons in England and Wales* operated by G4S Justice Services, Serco Custodial Services and Sodexo Custodial Services. In total they currently accommodate approximately 20% of the closed prison population across England and Wales. (*HMP Parc is managed under the Area Executive Director (AED) for Wales and not the PCG).
PMPs are subject to the same scrutiny from official bodies as those in the Public Sector, including HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), Ofsted, and Operational and System Assurance Group (OSAG). Governors of private prisons are referred to as ‘Directors’. They each have their own staffing structure and they work to their respective Chief Operating Officer (COO). Prison Custody Officers (PCOs) are trained to the same level as Prison Officers and are licenced by Controllers to operate as a PCO once they are fully qualified. All privately managed prisons have a named Controller who, with their team, ensures the prison is operated in line with the agreed contract.

The expectation is that the successful candidate will spend 60% of the time in the office of a privately managed prison in one of the following locations:

• HMP Ashfield – Bristol
• HMP Forest Bank – Salford
• HMP Fosse Way - Wigston, Leics
• HMP Northumberland – Morpeth
• HMP Oakwood – Featherstone, W Mids
• HMP Peterborough - Cambs

SUMMARY

The post holder will provide administrative support within their team / unit / group. Responsibilities include meeting support, collation of routine information, maintenance of databases and ad hoc administrative tasks.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

N.B. Converting job descriptions to the new Success Profile format means areas captured in experience could also be assessed as a strength. Vacancy managers should use their own judgement to decide where best to assess these.

• Good communication skills and the ability to communicate at all levels of the organisation

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Good working knowledge of Microsoft word, excel
  The job holder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.
  Additional Information

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Organisation of meetings / events, distribution of papers, support taking minutes/notes and writing up minutes
• Provides a first line of response to telephone calls to the department and directs callers as appropriate to the relevant member of staff.
• Act as first point of contact for general administrative support as and where required. This may involve chasing up outstanding information, updating and closing down cases on the tracking system, retrieving files/ information and interrogating databases to obtain information.
• Organise, produce and maintain accurate records for area of work
• Act as contact point for all communications to the team. Prioritise and distribute communications to the appropriate person or relevant department
• Prepare paperwork for checking by manager, conducting initial checks as required
• Act as I-Procurement and Quantum Point of Contact requisitioner
• Maintaining, logging and processing documents for the unit within given timeframe.
• Monitor the functional mailbox(s) action any issues and where needed log the request in the relevant folder/spreadsheets,
• Collate stationary request acting as requisitioner for the group
• Maintain and create relevant databases and ensure they contain accurate data , routinely quality assuring them – this can include restricted or confidential information

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the Job Holder.