Candidate Information Pack 1

Defra Group Commercial

Candidate Information Pack

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Welcome The Department Our People

The Role Benefits Vacancy Description

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Why join Defra?

I hope you’ll be enthused to join us. This is a great opportunity to join a new team and make a real and meaningful

difference

Defra Group Commercial (DGC) is part of Defra, the central Government Department responsible for growing the rural economy; improving the environment; and safeguarding animal and plant health. In Defra, we deal with a vast range of issues that profoundly impact on people’s lives. We are responsible for England’s environment, countryside and rural economy, the food and farming sectors and have a lead responsibility for protection from a wide range of natural threats and hazards. Defra is one of the lead departments in delivering a successful exit from the European Union (EU). Leaving the EU will fundamentally change the work we do and how we deliver it.

This is an exciting time to join Defra group Commercial (DgC). We’ve brought together the corporate services functions for Animal Plant & Health Agency (APHA), Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Natural England (NE), Environment Agency (EA) and core Defra over the past 18 months. Our

focus is now on the transformation of our commercial organisation and operating model, as we play an important role in enabling Defra group’s vision of ‘creating a great place for living’.

My ambition is to build on our existing expertise and develop a commercial organisation that breaks new levels of performance and influence. I want us to deliver maximum value from our £1.2bn annual expenditure, where we operate in some of the most challenging supply markets that you’ll find. This role we’re recruiting is an essential element in building that capability.

I hope you’ll be enthused to join us. This is a great opportunity to join a new team and make a real and meaningful difference on our journey to create commercial expertise at the heart of sustainable business delivery

Einav Ben-Yehuda

Einav Ben-Yehuda

Einav is the Commercial Director at Defra, she joined Defra in November 2017 and has a wealth of procurement and transformation experience across finance, retail, housing and the public sector. Einav won the Procurement Leaders Award 2015 for the Public Sector.

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Background to Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Our vision is to create a great place for living for people in this country.

We have developed a set of four strategic objectives covering our policy outcomes and corporate objectives. These objectives help us to deliver our ambitious vision to build our green and healthy future, and provide a framework for all of the important work we carry out:

• To deliver a safe and ambitious departure from the EU, setting global standards in protecting and harnessing value from the natural

environment;

• To pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and

enhanced for the future;

• To lead the world in food, farming and fisheries with a sustainable model of food production;

• To be an outstanding organisation focused on making a difference, with

world class delivery capability. Underpinning our vision are a series of goals highlighting all of the outcomes we want to achieve:

• Sustainable farming and food

• Pure air, clean rivers, and a resilient water supply

• Healthy seas and oceans

• Beautiful landscapes, flourishing wildlife and native species

• Thriving rural economies and communities

• Efficient resource use and reduced waste

• Protecting animals and plants from health risks

• Resilient communities and economies

• Great places for living for people and animals

• Green global Britain Some examples of our work include:

• The delivery of domestic and

international commitments on

issues such as air quality;

• Building our international trading

relationships in the agriculture and

food sectors;

• Working with key stakeholders to

develop our evidence portfolio

focusing on data driven decision

making and ensuring it aligns with

the changing landscape.

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• Increasing the availability,

coherence and productive use of

open data. This includes the

development and use of data

science capabilities and increased

use of earth observation. Defra has

taken a lead across government in

implementing an open data

programme by releasing 13,000

datasets.

• working with rural interests, local authorities and with other government departments to improve the opportunities for people and businesses in rural areas;

• protecting our country from natural hazards and threats, including flooding and animal and plant diseases, for example investing £2.5 billion over the next 6 years to improve flood protection and better protect over 300,000 homes.

Useful information

Creating a great place for living:

Defra Single Departmental Plan (SDP) 2015 – 2020

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-single-departmental-plan/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-single-departmental-plan-may-2018

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

Defra 25 Year Environment Plan

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan

Government Commercial Organisation and Commercial Operating Standards for Government

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-commercial-organisation

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commercial-operating-standards-for-government

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Defra Group Commercial provide a service to customers across the full Commercial DNA, as set out by the Cabinet Office.

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The work you will be doing

Our category teams provide support across a huge range of spend as you will see from Defra’s category spend profile. We will be providing a service in line with the Government Commercial Operating Standards (see useful info section.

The Infrastructure category team is responsible for providing commercial support and advice to clients operating in a key high value/risk area of spend predominately in the civil engineering/construction sector. This will include putting in place frameworks arrangements which will enable us to deliver a range of activities such as major capital construction works, specialist consultancy requirements, minor works, mechanical, electrical and Instrumentation maintenance, coastal works etc. This category team would also provide direct commercial support to project teams to help them deliver their requirements in an integrated collaborative way with our suppliers. We are on the verge of awarding a key long term Collaborative Delivery framework which will look to deliver greater efficiency gains by adopting new ways of working and

embrace a number of existing best practice initiatives recently identified within the construction sector.

If you would like to find out about the type of work in this category it would be useful to read the latest Current Magazine.

The Technology category is set up under 4 teams, Service Infrastructure, Service Operations, Business Applications and Planning, this operating model is market facing and agile and enables us to respond to emerging technologies, be flexible in the way we engage customers and align the IT goods and services that we buy for the Defra Group. The team have the benefit of being involved in the full breadth of commercial activity across the commercial lifecycle offering great development opportunities. We are currently working through exiting two major outsourced contracts with IBM (Defra) and Cap Gemini (Environment Agency) and embedding a new Unity contracting model which consists of a much broader range of contracts. EU

exit readiness and managing the impacts of GDPR have been, and will continue to be a real focus for us. The Business Applications team commercially support the 2200 applications of various sizes, complexity and cost that are utilised across the Defra Group. The Environmental Goods and Services category includes research, surveillance monitoring services and equipment and clean up materials. Expert advice and technical support on environmental matters, laboratory equipment and maintenance, including veterinary and disease control services. This category also covers Grants

With fragmented reactive spend across a diverse customer group, there is real opportunity for leveraging spend and bringing services, customers and suppliers together to deliver more value for Defra.

The Corporate Services category is represented by 3 sub categories of spend: Workforce, Professional Services and Corporate Solutions. Spend under management within this category includes

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The work you will be doing

Contingent Labour, Interim Resource, Consultancy, Fleet, Travel, Office Supplies and Financial Services.

One of the Key Stakeholders for this Category is the Crown Commercial Services, who has developed sourcing strategies for buying common goods and services across Government. It is important that this relationship remains strong and that the category is aligned with their approach, whilst respecting that Defra’s needs may differ.

The Buildings category covers - Building Services, FM, Construction and Utility contracts that service Defra and many ALB’s Offices, Depots, Laboratories and other sites. With a major outsource contract for Facilities Management and a high number of refurbishment projects to deliver, amongst other service contracts. Defra group Commercial (DgC) also utilise CCS and other Government frameworks for Utilities and other services, where available. This is a challenging, complex and varied category

using EU Procurement PCR for Works, NEC Forms of Contract, Construction Design and Management, BREEAM and Building Information Modelling.

With multiple contracts and suppliers across Defra and its ALB’s, there are real opportunities for a more collaborative approach to develop sourcing strategies that benefit the Department through Defra’s combined spending power. Thus building trusted and more strategic relationship with fewer suppliers.

The Commercial Operations Team is a newly formed and has four main functions: Commercial Strategy and Planning; Commercial support Services Hub; Commercial Policies and Processes; and Commercial Systems and Data. Responsible for providing Functional Plans, for DgC to ensure that we meet the Corporate Services and Defra objectives. We also provide a central

support hub which provides support to the categories as well as usable data and reporting to support decision making by the Senior Leadership Team. We enable efficient delivery of sourcing activities by providing harmonised sourcing strategies, policies and procedures. We also support the systems (e-Tendering, P2P, e-Marketplace, etc.) and data to support DgC. The Commercial Operations Team are responsible for the relationships with Cabinet Office, Other Government Departments (OGD’s) and for specialist and novel commercial support to ALB’s such as the Forestry Commission and Covent Garden Market Authority.

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The work you will be doing

The Supplier Relations and Contract Management (SRCM) team is looking to make a step change in how Defra works with suppliers and increases the value delivered through these relationships. The team is establishing a Centre of Excellence for contract management, and will roll out a contract management capability improvement programme across the Department. This will support category teams across the business by developing and advising on best practice contract and supplier management. A contract assurance programme for high value/high risk contracts will undertake forensic assessments across a range of categories, and with other initiatives improve the way DgC monitors markets and suppliers, and makes use of better data to support complex contracts and

challenging negotiations.

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Our office locations

Defra is able to support flexible working, which means that you may be able to work from home or in a closer Defra office for some of the week; however you will need to agree these arrangements with your new manager.

Potential office locations are in York, Bristol and London and others listed below. If you are posted to an Infrastructure role, then your locations will be limited to Warrington, Leeds, Solihull, Peterborough, Worthing, Reading and Exeter.

Defra York Office

Foss House, 1-2 Peasholme Green, Kingspool, York YO1 7PX

Phone: 01904 641000

Directions

Defra Bristol Office

Horizon House, Deanery Rd, Bristol BS1 5AH

Phone: 0370 850 6506

Directions

Defra London Office

Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, Westminster, London SW1P 3JR

Phone: 0345 933 5577

Directions

• Birmingham (from Autumn 2019), Aqua House, Birmingham, 20 Lionel St, B3 1AQ

• Current Birmingham office is in Solihull, 550 Streetsbrook Road, Solihull, B91 1QT

• Exeter, Manley House , Kestrel Way, Exeter, EX2 7LQ

• Warrington, Richard Fairclough House, Knutsford Road, Latchford, Warrington, WA4 1HT

• Reading, Kings Meadow House, Kings Meadow Road, Reading, RG1 8DQ

• Leeds, Lateral House, 8 City Walk, Leeds, LS11 9AT

• Peterborough, Kingfisher House, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, PE2 5ZR

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Benefits of working for Defra

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

Defra values and supports all its employees.

For example, we have strong and pro-active staff networks, special leave policies for hospital appointments, reasonable adjustments put in place for those who need them, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.

Pension

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package, and you will be given the chance to join either:

Alpha a career average pension scheme (defined benefit). That has an annual accrual rate of 2.32% of salary and an employer contribution rate of up to 24.5% dependent upon pensionable salary. Employee contributions are also based upon your salary and contribution rates can be found on the MyCSP website.

We also offer a personal pension scheme called partnership. You do not have to make any payments to have a partnership

pension account as your employer will make contributions anyway, up to 14.75% based upon your age. If you do choose to contribute your employer will match your contributions up to a further 3% of pensionable salary. This is a type of pension where benefits are dependent on contributions and the growth of the pension fund. More information can be found on the MyCSP website.

Life assurance Your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family, if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. Generous Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance

Annual Leave Defra offers 25 days annual leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days) for full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on modernised terms and conditions. Existing Civil Servants on pre-modernised terms will retain these.

Bank Holiday Employees receive 8 public holidays a year, plus an additional day in May to mark the Queen’s Birthday.

Staff Bonuses and Staff Recognition

We offer end of year Performance Awards (to our top performers).

We also have a Staff Recognition Scheme, and in-year awards to reward exemplary work.

Learning and Development

Everyone in Defra is supported to develop their skills and capabilities.

Induction All new employees joining (and returning) to Defra will have an induction to the department, our work and policies.

Civil Service Learning Access to learning and development with world class providers, through Civil Service Learning, including Professional Development.

Mentoring and Coaching Mentoring is an effective means of developing your career, boosting your confidence and empowering both the mentor and mentee. All our employees have the opportunity to voluntarily engage and work confidentially with a Mentor or a Coach.

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Benefits of working for Defra

Volunteering Defra employees are entitled to 3 days special leave with pay, per year, for volunteering. We encourage our employees to take this up, as volunteering can be a great way to share skills with worthy charitable causes, while developing new insights and stronger links with the civil society sector.

Reservists We fully support reservists and offer 15 days special leave with pay for training.

Childcare vouchers

The government has introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare.

Bicycle Loan

Schemes Defra offers interest-free loans towards the cost of a bike; and a Cycle to Work Scheme. Defra loans you a bike for your commute as a tax-free benefit. At the

end of the loan period, you have the option to buy the bike, saving 30% of the original cost

Season Ticket Loan

We offer interest-free season ticket loans, to all Defra employees with more than three months’ service, for purchasing train and bus season tickets, as well as station car parking

Sick Pay

We offer a generous and supportive Sick Pay Policy, with Sick pay progressively increasing, by the length of service, beginning at one month’s sick pay in the first year of service.

Employee Discounts

Defra employees have access to our discount scheme, offering savings at hundreds of top retailers.

Give as You Earn

Defra is registered with the Give as You Earn scheme, which enables you to make regular deductions directly from your

salary, in support of a chosen charity. This is simple and tax efficient.

Staff Wellbeing

We have various measures in place to assist with the physical and emotional health of our staff.

Flexible working to allow for variations in your hours from day to day, suiting your needs, and where this is compatible with business needs. There is further scope to work from home, compressed hours and more.

Break the Stigma is an employee-led network in Defra which offers support, information and raises awareness of mental health issues.

Employee Assistance Programme is a free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice service available to our staff.

Our Occupational Health Service (OHS) provides a range of support services, to optimise your attendance, engagement and performance at work.

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Benefits of working for Defra

Our Sports and Social Association promotes sports and social activities and organises our annual sports day and staff lottery.

Our offices offer onsite facilities, including fitness centres and staff canteens.

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Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

I have always believed that inclusiveness and diversity are essential for success. A diverse workforce better reflects our customers and stakeholders. It brings in the widest range of talent, ideas and approaches to support good policy-making and delivery Sonia Phippard (Defra diversity and LGB&T champion)

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Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We passionately believe in equality, diversity & inclusion and we match that belief with action.

We are committed to being an organisation in which fairness and equality of opportunity is central to the approach in business and working relationships and where the organisational culture reflects and supports these values. In Defra you have the right to a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, , working hours, trade union membership or trade union activity. We have many active staff networks including Age, Break the Stigma (mental health), Cancer, Carers, Disability, EU nationals, Ethnic Minority, Faith, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Asexual and Transgender (LGBAT+), Social Mobility, Women and Worklife Balance. We run a number of internal campaigns to support staff in achieving their full potential including This is Me which encourages people to bring their whole self to work.We support a number of national events such as National Inclusion Week, LGBT and Black History Months and offer career development through such as positive action pathway, talent schemes, Apprenticeships, internships, and reverse mentoring.

Our senior leaders talk authentically and with passion about what they are doing personally to support equality, diversity and inclusion. We promote and support a range of flexible working patterns to enable staff to balance home and work responsibilities, and we treat people fairly irrespective of their working arrangements. You can read more in our strategy. As a Disability Confident employer, we positively welcome applications from disabled people. We are committed to making workplace adjustments wherever possible to ensure that disabled people can participate fully in the recruitment and selection process, so please specify these in your application.

We will also consider any workplace adjustments to enable applicants with a disability to meet the requirements of the post and strive to go beyond our legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010.

We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for all disabled applicants who provide evidence of meeting the minimum requirements necessary for the post, as set out in this applicant pack. Please complete the Guaranteed Interview form if you consider yourself eligible.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the posts detailed in this pack then please email

Defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.