House of Commons

The House of Commons a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK's thriving democratic system. 

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.

Staff Benefits

In addition to your salary, we offer an attractive range of benefits including: 

• 30 days’ annual leave (increasing to 35 days after first full leave year). 
• Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. 
• Access to training and development. 
• Flexible working. 
• Interest free season ticket loan and bicycle loan. 

Introduction 

The Parliamentary Security Department (PSD) is responsible for physical and personnel security across both Houses of Parliament and provides support to Members and staff when away from the Estate. Its purpose is to keep Parliament safe and open for business.

PSD sets security strategy provides expert advice and delivers an operational service. It does this in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and by working closely with the In-House and Strategic Estates teams, Serjeant at Arms and Black Rod’s office, Restoration & Renewal teams, the Parliamentary Digital Service, and other key stakeholders. 

The Role 

The PSD Team Services function leads on the delivery of corporate and cross-departmental support services for the Parliamentary Security Department.  The Head of Risk and Assurance is an exciting opportunity within the team for a highly motivated individual with strong communication skills and a passion for risk management to drive forward and bring expertise to our risk management function and engage effectively with the Director and Deputy Directors and Business Management Director to provide assurance that risk in PSD is managed effectively and proportionately.

The post holder will work closely with Deputy Directors, Heads of Teams, and individual risk owners to deliver an effective risk management approach within PSD, and will support PSD colleagues in the understanding, analysis, monitoring and reporting of the PSD department risk portfolio. The postholder will also oversee our business continuity planning processes to ensure appropriate resilience plans are in place and tested to ensure effectiveness and lead on PSD assurance self-assessment activity to support the overall assurance process.

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Provide expert risk management guidance and support to PSD risk owners, Heads of Teams and Directors, to assist with the accurate identification, assessment, reporting, analysis and monitoring of risks across the department
• Oversee continuous improvement of PSD risk management, enhancing departmental risk and resilience activities and drive forward the risk management culture within the wider PSD team
• Drive the integration of risk management activity as part of the departmental resilience model and linking risk activity to assurance, planning and performance, strategy development, and other relevant functions to support robust governance systems
• Continue to develop PSD assurance monitoring activities sharing insights and best practice across the PSD team
   

Skills and Experience 

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• Institute of Risk Management (IRM) Certificate in risk management, or equivalent. Experience of leading the implementation and review of risk management frameworks, assurance reporting and business continuity planning and developing organisational risk and assurance maturity.
• Experience of working with diverse groups of people, upholding the principles of diversity, equality and inclusion, ensuring that everyone is, at all times, treated with dignity, courtesy and respect.
• Ability to lead, manage, develop, and motivate teams to deliver high quality services and sustainable change, and ensuring that staff are supported in the delivery of their roles. Ability to set realistic objectives, monitoring performance, giving feedback and supporting development.
• Demonstrable ability to establish authority and credibility quickly, to build and maintain confident and collaborative relationships with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders based on trust and mutual respect – and to use logic, reasoning, empathy, and tenacity to persuade, influence and challenge people at all levels. Consistently negotiate, influence, and achieve organisational goals.  
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills explaining complex information in a meaningful way to the receiver. Shows ability to draft clear and accurate papers and policies effectively. Ability to working under pressure and to provide clear, confident, succinct, and persuasive briefings. 
• Gathers information from a range of sources. Probes for further information. Identifies risks and considers alternative options to make sound decisions; and takes responsibility for resolving issues. Ability to gather and analyse information to identify the main issues in complex problems and identifying and evaluating options to make timely decisions and identify opportunities.
• Prioritises workload for self and others to ensure changing short, medium and long-term demands and deadlines are met; and effectively manages several complex activities at the same time. Identifies opportunities for continuous improvement to strengthen business performance.
   

Next Steps and Additional Information

If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV and covering letter with a 500 word limit. 

More information on the role and the full criteria can be found in the Job Description. 

Please note that most job offers will be made at the minimum of the salary range, other than in exceptional circumstances.

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