Non Executive Director – Wales Office

The Wales Office supports the Secretary of State and her Ministerial team in promoting the best interests of Wales within a strong United Kingdom. It ensures Wales’ interests are represented at the heart of the UK Government and the UK Government’s responsibilities are represented in Wales. The Wales Office is looking to appoint a Non-Executive Director (NED) to serve on its

Departmental Board, Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and Outcome Delivery Plan Implementation Committee.

The term of appointment will be for an initial period of up to three years, which may be extended in further defined periods by agreement. The maximum total term of appointment is five years.

The location of the role is London or Cardiff (with potential travel to either location).

The successful candidate will be expected to start the position at the end of November 2024.

The role of the Non-Executive Director is to play a key part in the effective and successful governance of the Department. Supporting the lead NED, the main responsibilities are to:

• Ensure the Departmental Board and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee define the vision, values, culture and strategy of theorganisation and set a high standard for ethics and responsible conduct of public business.
• Ensure the Departmental Board and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee maintain appropriate governance and internal controls, including ensuring sound financial, risk and performance management regimes are in place and the Department has the capacity to deliver.
• Actively challenge the Board on key issues including the Business Plan and Strategic Risks.
• Monitor the delivery of the Department’s Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP) through being a member of the Outcome Delivery Plan Implementation Committee.
• Contribute to and attend meetings of other non-Executive members across central government.
• Ensure the Department’s Senior Management Team is subjected to constructive challenge in respect of the performance of the organisation; and
• Provide counsel, advice and support to the executive team, acting as a sounding board and “critical friend” where necessary

To be considered for the role, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment. These are:

• Experience of risk, performance and financial management with strong analytical skills with the ability to identify key issues/implications.
• A knowledge and understanding of Wales and the role of the Wales Office, including the key challenges and opportunities for the Department over the next three years.
• Sound judgement and an ability to work as an individual and as part of a team, with a constructive style and effective communication skills.
• A detailed knowledge of corporate governance and finance procedures in the public sector.

The Non-Executive Director is required to uphold the seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The Departmental Board was established in September 2015 and meets up to five times in a financial year. The Board is chaired by the Secretary of State or the Director at meetings where Ministers are not present.

The Board is responsible for providing advice about the Office’s strategic direction (aims and objectives) in accordance with policies decided by Ministers, scrutinising the business and Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP) and ensuring that the Office has the capacity and capability to deliver the business plan to meet current and future needs.

The Board supports the Secretary of State in delivering her responsibilities to Parliament.

In order to apply you will need to provide:

ACurriculum Vitaewhich provides your contact details, details of your education and qualifications, employment history, directorships, membership of professional bodies and details of any relevant publications or awards;

Asupporting statementsetting out how you meet the criteria for appointment, as set out in the person specification for the role;

Information relating to anyoutside interests or reputational issues;

Diversity monitoringinformation. This allows us to see if there are any unfair barriers to becoming a public appointee and whether there are any changes that we could make to encourage a more diverse field to apply. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be used as part of the selection process and will not be seen by the interview panel;

Disability Confident– please state if you want to be considered for the disability confident scheme;

Reasonable adjustments– requests for reasonable adjustments that you would like to the application process (if applicable);

Please provide the information at points 3-6 above on the relevant form, or as part of your supporting statement.

The Advisory Assessment Panel reserves the right to only consider applications that contain all of the elements listed above, and that arrive before the published deadline for applications.

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