Strategy Development Lead

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), based in the Cabinet Office, was created in 2019 to lead the cross-government delivery of the Strategy for our Veterans, to develop future iterations of that strategy, and to provide leadership, advocacy and improved coordination of veterans’ issues across government. The aim of the OVA is to realise the Government’s ambitious strategic vision, to make the UK the best country in the world to be a veteran.

There are around 2 million veterans in the UK and 15,000 people leaving the Armed Forces every year. The government wants to ensure that every single veteran has the opportunity to move successfully into civilian life and can access the help they need to do so. The community of veterans and their families is diverse and varied in the support people need, with the work of the OVA spanning issues including housing, health and wellbeing, employment, diversity and inclusion, historical legacy issues, finance, criminal justice and societal recognition of the value of service in the Armed Forces.

Central to this role is ensuring the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) is focused on the right areas to deliver impact and that impact can be measured to inform evaluation and further interventions.

The postholder will join the department at an exciting time, when the second iteration of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan is being developed. Building relationships across government and with stakeholders in the wider veterans’ community to gain a broad understanding of veterans’ matters is therefore key, as is drawing on these relationships to drive action. Positive engagement will support the OVA in publishing a Veterans’ Strategy Action plan that delivers meaningful change for veterans and their families, covering a variety of policy areas. This places the postholder in the unique position of developing knowledge in areas from health and employment, to equalities and international engagement.

With visibility of the work going on across the team, the postholder will also play a significant role in delivering The Strategy for our Veterans - 6 Monthly Report.

In addition to the Strategy team’s central role in the development of publications, it is also responsible for managing the bi-monthly Strategy Delivery Group, which brings together Senior Civil Servants across government, to discuss veterans’ issues and monitor progress against the current Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan. Similarly, the Thematic Working Groups, aligned to each of the Strategy for our Veterans’ 6 key themes, are organised by the Strategy function and provide an important forum from which to identify areas for improvement and collaboration across government. These groups will be an important resource for the postholder to use to identify the metrics which will underpin a performance and evaluation framework. This framework will allow the government to measure the impact of interventions and therefore adapt our approach where necessary to deliver the best services to veterans and their families.

The postholder will have the chance to attend a variety of exciting stakeholder events that range from research conferences to awards ceremonies and will have ample opportunity for professional development. If you are interested in finding out more, please feel free to contact georgina.drysdale@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Deputy Head of Strategy to deliver the OVA’s strategy work packages on policy development and coordination, performance, governance and publications
• Monitor delivery of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-2024 through engagement with colleagues from across government, escalating risks and issues to the Deputy Head of Strategy and the OVA’s Senior Leadership Team
• Work the with the OVA policy teams to ensure the 2018 Strategy and action plan are embedded throughout the OVA’s work
• Develop engagement plans and content proposals for the next iteration of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan
• Provide the secretariat for the Strategy Delivery Group, a senior cross-government forum for discussing veterans’ matters
• Work with OVA and other government departments to develop a performance and evaluation framework for veterans policy across government to establish outcomes and monitor progress across six themes; health and wellbeing, employment, education and skills, making a home in civilian society, finance and debt, community and relationships and veterans and the law
• Lead delivery of the six monthly reports , as well as supporting MOD colleagues to deliver the Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans annual report

Essential Criteria:

• Strong written and verbal communications skills, as the successful candidate will lead delivery of cross-government publications, working closely with colleagues across-government and beyond to access information and co-ordinate engagement on veterans’ policy
• Strong organisational skills, with experience of planning and prioritising your workload in a rapidly-changing and challenging policy landscape
• Confident providing challenge and seeking clarification where required, in order to ensure decision-making is based on the best available insights
• Experience of strategy development, implementation and monitoring as part of the policy cycle

Desirable Criteria:

• Analytical skills, with the ability to rapidly and accurately appraise evidence and data, and extract key insights into concise, accessible reporting
• Experience of performance management and/or evaluation

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Job contact :

Name :
Georgina Drysdale
Email :
georgina.drysdale@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk