JOB SUMMARY

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.
Ministerial, Growth and Resilience
Ministerial, Growth and Resilience Directorate. provides support on the Government Growth Mission as well as working on regulation and regulatory reform. It also includes Defra’s Briefing, parliamentary and ministerial support functions as Defra’s Ministerial and Permanent Secretary Private Offices.
Encouraging diverse applicants
We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is an exciting time to join the Secondary Legislation Unit (SLU) within Defra’s wider Growth, Regulation and Legislation Unit (GRLU). Our 2025 focus is to deliver a high number of Statutory Instruments in line with the priorities of the Government and Ministers.
The Unit has responsibility for the delivery of Defra’s secondary legislation programme, which includes laying and making of over eighty Statutory Instruments (SIs) each year, supporting policy teams in briefing Ministers for SI debates, publishing legislation on gov.uk and engaging with Parliamentary Committees.
Defra’s SI programme is usually one of the largest and most complex across government. This will require a keen focus on cross-departmental collaboration, including with Devolved Governments, and understanding ministerial and Defra policy priorities.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Good interpersonal skills and experience of working with different, complex stakeholders.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Project and/or programme management/delivery experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

RESPONSIBILITIES

This role will support the Devolved Government Engagement Lead (G7) in managing the devolved dependencies within the department’s secondary legislation programme. This involves:

• Proactively managing relationships with Devolved Governments (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to encourage open lines of communication through formal and informal engagement (e.g. a Legislative Issues Working Group, weekly Issues Resolution Calls, and bilateral meetings as required.
• Management of Devolved Government Clearance processes within Defra’s secondary legislation programme, preparing and tracking ministerial consent letters.
• Providing advice to Defra policy teams on the engagement and clearance processes needed for secondary legislation being planned.
• Working with colleagues across Defra to take account of the application of the Windsor Framework and the EU Reset Programme, providing input into briefings and submissions.
• Ensuring that guidance and capability materials on working with Devolved Governments are kept up to date, delivering training to Defra teams and others as required.
• Provision of an effective secretariat (logistics, agendas, minutes) for meetings between Defra and the Devolved Governments.

This role enables close working with a variety of policy teams across Defra and working closely with Ministerial offices in the delivery of Ministerial priorities. It also includes excellent Learning & Development opportunities and support which will be available to help build knowledge and capability.