Person specification
Job title: Executive Support Officer
Attributes
Experience
Essential:
- Experience of servicing committees and senior management meetings, including scheduling and minute taking.
- Experience of providing administrative support at senior level.
- Experience of staff supervision systems, policies and procedures.
- Experience of people management
Education, qualifications and training
Essential:
- You will be educated to SCQF Level 8 or equivalent experience in administration, management or business studies.
Desirable:
- HNC/D or equivalent.
Skills and knowledge
Essential:
- Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
- Excellent report writing skills with ability to report and present information in a succinct manner
- Good working knowledge of IT packages including Microsoft Applications
- Experience of developing processes and procedures.
- Ability to manage conflicting priorities and work to tight deadlines/plan and prioritise workloads.
- Ability to supervise staff and provide training and development opportunities to maximise resources.
- Ability to delegate work appropriately within the support team.
- Ability to translate plans into action.
Key performance outcomes
Effective communication
Essential:
- Ability to prepare reports, minutes and other written communication to a high standard.
- Ability to express ideas clearly and concisely and to adapt communication to suit different audiences.
- Ability to form constructive working relationships with people at all levels in the organisation.
- Regularly communicates with and ensures they are accessible to their team.
- Ability to communicate decisions to team members.
Desirable:
- Encouragement of colleagues to express their own ideas.
Objective decision making
Essential:
- Demonstrates analytical and systematic approach to problem solving.
- Encourages and supports decisions of team members.
- Considers organisational values in relation to the impact of their decisions.
- Considers the wider context in which the Care Inspectorate operates.
Desirable:
- Ability to express and present complex information.
Planning and organising
Essential:
- Ability to react to changing priorities and to prioritise conflicting demands.
- Ability to forward plan and prevent any operational difficulties.
- Regularly reviews workloads, goals and targets with team and prioritise where necessary.
- Uses 1-1 supervision to support team members to plan workloads.
- Delegates effectively to others and optimises resources to achieve desired results.
- Allocates people and resources effectively by taking account of individual strengths and development needs.
Flexibility
Essential:
- Encourages a flexible, positive approach to work in their team.
- Applies rules and procedures sensibly and understands where flexibility is required.
- Ability to apply skills flexibly within teams as required.
Improvement focus
Essential:
- Contributes to the development of operational processes and systems.
- Ability to identify gaps in performance and make appropriate suggestions for improvement.
- Ability to use knowledge and experience to gather and consolidate information to make appropriate improvements.
- Demonstrates initiative, drive and determination to complete tasks and achieve objectives.
- Improves the development and quality of services
Desirable:
- Demonstrates understanding of the principles of public accountability.
Teamworking
Essential:
- Contributes to the organisational and team vision and purpose and shares this effectively.
- Encourages the team to work co-operatively with each other.
- Involves the team in decision and actions.
Please note – these are key performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role.
Job profile
Job title: Executive Support Officer
Location: Any Care Inspectorate office but will be expected to travel to Dundee Headquarters and other offices of the Care Inspectorate when required.
Responsible to: Executive and Committee Support Manager
Principal working contacts
- Chief Executive and Executive Directors
- Senior Manager
- Board Members
- Executive and Committee Support Manager
- Members of Executive and Committee Support Team
- Corporate Support Officer
- Members of Corporate Support Team
Job purpose
- To provide comprehensive support to the Committees of the Care Inspectorate Board.
- To provide comprehensive support to strategic management group meetings.
- To provide high quality, effective executive support to the Partnership Forum and other high-level meetings as required.
- To manage, support and develop a team in the provision of high level, confidential support to senior management.
Key responsibilities
- To assist and support the Executive and Committee Support Manager in delivering a high quality, effective executive support service to the Board and its Committees, strategic management group and other high-level meetings as required.
- To ensure all paperwork, agendas, reports and any other related material is prepared, quality checked and circulated in accordance with agreed deadlines; this includes liaising with the meeting Chairs, Lead Officers and the Committee Conveners on a regular basis.
- To manage and maintain schedules of business and action records, ensuring colleagues are aware of changes that affect them in a timely manner.
- To work closely with the Executive and Committee Support Manager to ensure that Committees’ reporting requirements to the Board are adhered to.
- To be knowledgeable in all relevant Terms of Reference, the Board Code of Conduct and other key governance documents.
- To be the lead secretariat support for all relevant high-level meetings involving scheduling and co-ordinating meetings, assessing priorities, enquiries and requests as necessary.
- To provide the lead support for the Business Continuity Management plan and processes
- To ensure all paperwork, preparation of agendas, reports and any other related material is prepared in advance of high-level meetings, liaising with meeting Chairs/Conveners, in accordance with agreed deadlines.
- To prepare minutes and action records of high-level meetings and distribute these within appropriate timescales in accordance with procedures.
- To organise, plan and delegate work appropriately to ensure the provision of a high standard and efficient executive support service to senior management.
- To assist in the recruitment and selection of executive and committee support staff and other business support staff as required.
- To deputise for the Executive and Committee Support Manager when required, particularly at Board meetings.
- To provide occasional secretariat cover in the absence of the other Executive Support Officer.
- To provide occasional line management cover to the teams of the other Executive Support Officer and/or the Corporate Support Officer, in their absence.
- Within the scope of the ESO role, undertake such other duties as may be required.
People management
- Provide line management support to the team on a daily basis.
- Implement and monitor the Care Inspectorate’s performance development process and ensure that all line-managed employees have a Personal Development Plan.
- Promote the health, safety and wellbeing of employees, with responsibility for ensuring that the Care Inspectorate’s health and safety policies, procedures and practice and legislative requirements are met across the team.
- Carry out your duties in accordance with our Health and Safety policies, procedures, guidance, practices and legislative requirements, taking reasonable care for your safety and that of others who may be affected by what you do or fail to do while at work
- Effectively manage the attendance of staff within established policies and procedures to support Care Inspectorate attendance targets.
- Promote diversity, equality of opportunity, fairness, dignity and trust, ensuring that these principles are upheld across all areas of service delivery.
Relationship management
- Ensure productive and smooth working arrangements and protocols between staff delivering executive and committee support and all other Care Inspectorate employees.
- Develop and maintain constructive and co-operative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure effective and efficient executive and committee support.
- Contribute to the continuous development of the Care Inspectorate and manage change effectively and creatively.
- Promote the principles of partnership working throughout the organisation and embrace this as the agreed way of working.
- Promote a positive and inclusive working environment which supports continuous professional development.
- To ensure effective communication of the Care Inspectorate's work with people who use care services, carers, relatives and advocates.
Other duties
This job description is a broad picture of the post at the date of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties, and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time. Consequently, the post holder will be required to carry out any other duties to the equivalent level that are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the job, and to respond positively to changing business needs.
Job profile
Job title: Corporate Support Officer
Location: Headquarters in Dundee
Responsible to: Executive and Committee Support Manager
Principal working contacts:
- Executive and Committee Support Manager
- Executive Support Officers
- Strategic Management Group
- Heads of Service
- Corporate Senior Managers
- Employees of the Care Inspectorate
- External service providers
Job purpose
- Working closely with heads of service and senior managers to co-ordinate and provide an effective high quality business support service to corporate and core support functions of the Care Inspectorate.
- To line manage the Corporate Support team to ensure the provision of high-level business support
- To manage the reception service at headquarters in Dundee.
- Act as contract manager for low value contracts (less than £10k), liaising closely with the procurement team as and when required.
Key accountabilities
Strategic:
- To assist and support the Executive and Committee Support Manager in delivering a cohesive business support service for the Care Inspectorate and in driving a continuous improvement agenda.
- To manage the delivery of effective business support to the wider corporate teams for business needs.
Operational:
- To act as point of contact for heads of service and senior managers, assessing priorities, enquiries and requests as necessary.
- Organise, plan and delegate work appropriately to ensure the provision of high-level and efficient business support to the Care Inspectorate.
- Within the scope of the role, undertake projects from time to time.
- Approve expenditure in the Care Inspectorate’s financial system as part of delegated budget holder responsibilities.
- Be involved in the procurement of contracts for which the customer and business support function is responsible; this includes mail services, printing services and catering services.
- Monitor and review the services provided by contracted service providers
- Organise and attend meetings (including senior management meetings) as required to take accurate notes or minutes, and action records and to distribute these following the meetings.
- Assist in the recruitment and selection of business support staff.
- Ensure that all corporate support procedures and information systems are accurate and kept up-to-date.
- Assist in the provision of guidance, advice and support in relation to business support operational issues within the organisation.
- Deputise for the Executive and Committee Support Manager and undertake such other duties as may be required.
- Provide occasional line management cover to the teams of the Executive Support Officers, in their absence.
People management:
- To provide line management support to the corporate support team on a daily basis ensuring they are deployed in a way that delivers high quality administrative support across core functions of the Care Inspectorate.
- Implement and monitor the Care Inspectorate’s LEAD process and ensure that all team members are using the Learning Management System effectively to set goals and record one to one meetings.
- Promote the health, safety and welfare of employees, with responsibility for ensuring that the Care Inspectorate health and safety policies, procedures and practice and legislative requirements are met across the team.
- Carry out your duties in accordance with our Health and Safety policies, procedures, guidance, practices and legislative requirements, taking reasonable care for your safety and that of others who may be affected by what you do or fail to do while at work.
- Effectively manage the attendance of staff within established policies and procedures
- Promote diversity, equality of opportunity, fairness, dignity and trust, ensuring that these principles are upheld across all areas of service delivery.
Relationship management:
- Ensure productive and smooth working arrangements and protocols between staff delivering corporate support and all other Care Inspectorate employees.
- Develop and maintain constructive and co-operative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders and contractors.
- Contribute to the continuous development of the Care Inspectorate and manage change effectively and creatively.
- Promote the principles of partnership working throughout the organisation and embrace this as the agreed way of working.
- Promote a positive and inclusive working environment which supports continuous professional development.
- To ensure effective communication of the Care Inspectorate's work with people who use care services, carers, relatives and advocates.
Other duties
This job description is a broad picture of the post at the date of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time. Consequently the post holder will be required to carry out any other duties to the equivalent level that are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the job, and to respond positively to changing business needs.
Download the job profile in PDF format here.
Person specification
Jon title: Corporate Support Officer
Attributes
Experience
Essential:
- Experience of providing administrative support at senior level.
- Experience of staff supervision systems, policies and procedures.
- Experience of people management.
- Experience of servicing senior management meetings, including scheduling and note-taking.
Desirable:
- Experience of contract management
Education, qualifications and training
Essential:
- You will be educated to SCQF Level 8 (e.g. HND, diploma of higher education) or have relevant skills and experience in administration, management or business studies.
Skills and knowledge
Essential:
- Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
- Good working knowledge of IT packages. including spreadsheets, Microsoft Applications and database input.
- Experience of developing processes and procedures.
- Ability to manage conflicting priorities and work to tight deadlines/plan and prioritise workloads.
- Ability to supervise staff and provide training and development opportunities to maximise resources.
- Ability to delegate work appropriately within the support team.
- Ability to translate plans into action.
Key performance outcomes
Effective communication
Essential:
- Ability to prepare reports and other written communication to a high standard.
- Ability to express ideas clearly and concisely and to adapt communication to suit different audiences.
- Ability to form constructive working relationships with people at all levels in the organisation.
- Regularly communicate with and ensure accessibility to the team.
- Ability to communicate decisions to team members.
Desirable:
- Ability to motivate and encourage team to express own ideas.
Objective decision making
Essential:
- Demonstrates analytical and systematic approach to problem solving.
- Encourages and supports the team to be involved in decision-making, where appropriate.
- Considers organisational values in relation to the impact of their decisions.
- Considers the wider context in which the organisation operates.
Desirable:
- Ability to express and present complex information.
Planning and organising
Essential:
- Regularly reviews workloads, goals and targets with team and prioritises where necessary.
- Uses 1-1 supervision to support team members to plan workloads.
- Delegates effectively to others and optimises resources to achieve desired results.
- Allocates people and resources effectively by taking account of individual strengths and development needs.
- Ability to react to changing priorities and to prioritise conflicting demands.
- Ability to forward plan and prevent any operational difficulties.
Flexibility
Essential:
- Encourages a flexible, positive approach to work in their team.
- Applies rules and procedures sensibly and understands where flexibility is required.
- Ability to apply skills flexibly within teams as required.
Improvement focus
Essential:
- Contributes to the development of operational processes and systems.
- Ability to identify gaps in performance and make appropriate suggestions for improvement.
- Ability to use knowledge and experience to gather and consolidate information to make appropriate improvements.
- Demonstrates initiative, drive and determination to complete tasks and achieve objectives.
- Improves the development and quality of services.
Desirable:
- Demonstrates understanding of the principles of public accountability.
Teamworking
Essential:
- Contributes to the shared vision and purpose and shares this effectively.
- Encourages the team to work co-operatively with each other.
- Involves the team in decision and actions.
Please note – these are key performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role. Successful applicants will be assessed against all the performance indicators used in the appraisal system once established in the role.
Download the person specification in PDF format here.
Subcategories
Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
The early learning and childcare expansion…
Role: Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
Location: Forth Valley, Borders, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow
Salary: £31,083 - £39,069 plus excellent benefits
Hours: 140 hours to be worked over a 4-week period
Contract: Permanent or 2-year secondment (would be considered)
Join us and make a difference – for you, for everyone
It’s our job to ensure care for everyone, everywhere in Scotland is as good as it can be. If you are as passionate about high-quality care as we are, and you’re experienced in your field, we’d love to hear from you.
About us
As a national scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect care services and partnerships across Scotland, report on the quality of care people experience, and support improvements in services to facilitate improvements in outcomes for people.
We inspect care services individually. We also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in local areas.
We champion high-quality care whenever we encounter it across the thousands of inspections, we carry out each year, and we work closely with all care providers to support them to improve all the time. We collaborate with other organisations too, supporting improvement across public services. Our work plays a big role in reducing health and social inequalities between people and communities.
We are looking for talented people to join us in making a difference - specialists who understand how to put people’s needs, rights and choices at the heart of delivering social services – and how to lead improvement too. Our 600 staff work with services across the public, voluntary and private sectors. We have offices across Scotland and many of our staff work from home.
About you
Whether early or established in your career, you will share our determination that care, social work and justice services should work well for people – every time. You’ll be confident about what good-quality care looks like and how to deliver it. You’ll be good at analysing information and evidence. You will have excellent writing skills for narrative inspection reports that are clear, concise and focused on outcomes. You will be confident in working with a wide range of people and at supporting and advising on improvement.
You’ll currently be working, or have significant experience in, social care, social work, health, children’s services, early learning, child protection, or community learning and development. You will be registered or eligible to register with a professional body like the SSSC, NMC or GTC.
About the role
Our care inspectors work with care services: childminders, nurseries, care homes, care at home, housing support and a host of other specialist services. A specialist in your field, you may have helped lead a service and have a strong track record in delivering quality. You’ll be adept at leading improvement and influencing others. You will work with people experiencing care, and care service providers, managers and staff.
Why join us?
We strive to be a great employer, knowing that competitive salary, leave and pension schemes are only part of that. We pride ourselves on the values we hold, person-centred; fairness; respect; efficiency and integrity - all supported with a culture of care and kindness.
We believe in collective leadership and innovation. You’ll have a lot of autonomy to manage your own work and use the professional skills you’ve honed during your career – but in new ways. Starting on day one, our learning and development support will help you become confident in the craft of scrutiny and in supporting improvement. Because a lot of your role is about sharing effective practice across Scotland, the impact you can have on experiences and outcomes for people is significant. You will draw on management and leadership skills you’ve developed in the past.
We’re proud to be a progressive, supportive employer – we’re happy to talk about flexible working with you and we’re members of the Disability Confident Scheme, aiming to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.
New appointments will normally be placed on the minimum grade for the role; a higher starting salary may be offered in exceptional circumstances only.
ELC expansion
The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1140 hours per year by 2020. The expansion of ELC is aimed to support the reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap and improve long term outcomes for children and families.
Due to the ELC expansion programme we are looking for 7 further ELC Inspectors in addition to the “business as usual” Inspector campaign launched recently.
Principles and aims
The priority for the expansion to 1140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.
The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.
Use and provision
A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.
Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1140 hours.
Criteria to apply
- We require you to hold a relevant qualification (minimum SCQF Level 9), register with either the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or any other relevant professional body and undertake PVG checks.
- You must also be prepared to do a Professional Development Award in Scrutiny and Improvement (Social Services) at SCQF level 10 with appropriate support from the organisation.
- You will have a minimum of three years recent and demonstrable management experience in a relevant field. You must also be willing to travel with overnight stays as required.
Before you apply
- Please contact the relevant body directly to resolve any queries you have regarding registration or eligible qualifications for registration (SSSC, NMC and so on) before submitting your application.
- For an informal chat about the job role, please contact (Who?) You or Kim Connolly, Team Manager on 07766133161
- For all other queries, please contact Human Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To apply
- If you are interested, please see the minimum criteria to apply as an Inspector and the specific guidance and directions to apply. Thereafter, click on the gateway questions link to apply.
- Your completed application form (campaign number C39 only forms) and equal opportunities form should be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.no later than Monday, 14 October 2019 at 8.00am.
- We anticipate that selection days will take place in the week commencing Monday, 18 November 2019.