Job Description

Details

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Reference number

406859
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Salary

37,523 - 44,766
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP
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Job grade

Higher Executive Officer###

Contract type

Permanent###

Business area

WP - Research Service###

Type of role

Social Research###

Working pattern

Full-time###

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Cardiff

About the job

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Job summary

We are recruiting a Higher Research Officer within the Children, Education and Lifelong Learning Team in the Research Service at the Senedd. The team comprises a team leader, two senior research officers and one higher research officer (this post). The purpose of this post is to provide impartial, independent, and expert factual briefing on all aspects of pre-16 education policy, legislation and statistics to support Senedd Members and committees. This briefing can involve secondary research and requires a critical analysis of a range of information sources. The role also involves writing and publishing articles to inform debate and scrutiny, while aiding understanding of the Senedd's wider work.



The role of a Higher Research Officer involves understanding areas of devolved policy as well as having the ability to work flexibly, leading on your own research work and supporting senior researchers on their subject areas. This post has particular responsibility for supporting the senior researcher who leads on pre-16 education but, as demand requires, will also involve work in the other subject areas covered by the team. (children and early years, and post-16 education).



You will need to have a thorough understanding of current Welsh policy alongside an overview of relevant legislation and statistics in the policy area of pre-16 education. You will need to demonstrate excellent research and briefing skills. You will be expected to be flexible, work proactively with research colleagues across a range of policy areas and work across the whole Service providing support to teams where there is high demand. You'll be responding to enquiries from Senedd Members; preparing briefing for committees; creating digital content to be published via our social media channels and identifying opportunities for cross service working. You will have the opportunity to develop digital skills, including producing data visualisations and helping to create interactive content.



We work as 'one team' and have a culture of working across teams to help support each other in times of high demand. You will therefore be expected to adapt as the role evolves and to work across teams as required. You will work in an agile way to support and develop ways of working in Senedd Research, through participation in cross service improvement groups, editorial board activities and any service plan priorities where opportunities arise.###

Job description

Undertaking research and analysis to produce written briefings and responses in response to requests from committees or individual Senedd Members and their staff. Supporting Senedd committees with scrutiny of legislation, policy and financial issues, working independently and with the team leader and senior researchers. Further developing and maintaining your comprehensive understanding of pre-16 education policy, and developing the skills and knowledge to assist with work across the Children, Education and Lifelong Learning Team's policy areas; using this expertise to improve services to committees, Senedd Members and information available to the wider public. Producing engaging proactive content, including research articles, data visualisations, and supporting other researchers to deliver content that contributes to open and well-informed debate. Supporting the publication and promotion of external content through social media. Developing and maintaining digital skills and expertise to improve the information available to Members of the Senedd and the wider public. Working with stakeholders to develop a network of expertise, identifying opportunities to work with academics and other knowledge mobilisers so that Members of the Senedd have access to a wide range of evidence. Developing effective relationships with Senedd Members and their staff and working collaboratively with colleagues from different service areas across the Welsh Parliament and other UK parliaments. Contributing to the development of Senedd Research ways of working and contributing to a one team ethos. ###

Person specification

Job Specific criteria:

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Communication skills: You will be a strong communicator and will have excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills. These will enable you to produce rigorous, impartial and engaging briefings for politicians and digital content for a wider audience. Research and briefing skills: You will need excellent research skills so that you can produce quality written and oral briefing within short timescales. This includes the ability to identify and critically review the most relevant information and statistics. You will also need to be able to summarise a wide range of views accurately. You will be able to work independently to quickly learn new subjects. Sound judgement: You will demonstrate sound judgement and have experience of making effective decisions in a challenging environment and at short notice. You will have experience of providing information and advice that is sensitive to political issues and free from bias. Subject knowledge: You will need an in-depth understanding of all aspects of pre-16 education policy, legislation and statistics and have experience of delivering written research and briefing on these issues.

Desirable criteria:

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The following qualities are not essential for this particular post but have been deemed as desirable. These will only be taken into account in the event of two (or more) candidates acquiring the same score at either application or interview stage.

Digital skills: You will have good digital skills including any of the following: social media content development, media production, digital storytelling, data visualisation, and experience of content editing.

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 37,523, Welsh Parliament contributes 10,870 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

For further information about this position please contact: Michael Dauncey, Senior Research Officer, Pre-16 education (line manager) 0300 200 6293 /

michael.dauncey@senedd.wales

Candidates are required to complete an application form through our recruitment portal addressing the job specific and desirable criteria.

Closing Date for applications:

23:59, Sunday 8 June 2025.

Your application must be submitted before midnight on the closing date.


You will be updated on your progress via the email address you first register with. Please check your Junk Mail and Spam folders to make sure you don't miss any future correspondence.

Interviews will be held in-person in Ty Hywel, Cardiff Bay on:

Friday 4 July 2025 or Monday 7 July 2025.




Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.###

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.###

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.###

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
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Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.



We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.###

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.###

Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : Michael Dauncey Email : michael.dauncey@Senedd.wales Telephone : 03002006293
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Recruitment team

* Email : jobs@senedd.wales