21666 - Head of Security Incident Response and Operational Liaison, Judicial Security Office

Role title

Head of Security Incident Response and Operational Liaison

Team/Directorate

Judicial Office: Strategy, Information and Digital

Location

This position can be based at RCJ, London WC2A 2LL, Loughborough Magistrates Court, or 5, Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP.

Judicial Office expectation is for minimum 60% office attendance over each quarter, with some travel to other offices and courts, subject to business requirements

Overview of the role:

The Judicial Office

The Judicial Office (JO) reports and is accountable to the Lady Chief Justice (LCJ) and was established in 2006 to provide support to the LCJ and to the wider judiciary following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. In addition, we support, and are accountable to, the Senior President of Tribunals, whose responsibilities extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The JO is an interesting and unique place to work. Everything we do is in support of upholding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. We work closely with HMCTS, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and others across Government as well as with the legal professions.

We are an Arm’s Length Body sponsored by the MoJ. This creates an interesting and complex environment in which to work where we agree our priorities with the senior judiciary and receive our funding to deliver them from the MoJ. The JO has been through a period of significant growth resulting from an expansion of our remit and responsibilities.

Judicial Security Office

This is an exciting time to join the JO, helping to establish a new, dedicated, intelligence-led Judicial Security Office, which will be responsible for leading on out-of-court/hearing centre judicial security.

With the risk/threat landscape evolving, you will lead a team that will work alongside Judicial HR, HMCTS, and a wide network of national security, law enforcement and Government partners to identify, assess and respond to a broad range of security threats, helping to protect those at the heart of the justice system.

Delivered through three specialist teams, the Judicial Security Office will support around 24,000 judicial office holders, including judges, magistrates and tribunal members across England and Wales.

This is a great opportunity to join a new and growing function, with a high-profile mission: safeguarding judicial independent by ensuring judicial office holders receive the security support they need, when they need it, in an increasingly complex threat environment.

Summary:

This role offers the opportunity to make a direct contribution to judicial independence and the effective administration of justice by helping ensure that judicial office holders can carry out their duties safely and confidently.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties:

Key responsibilities include:

The Head of Security Incident Response and Operational Liaison will lead their team’s delivery of the following core services:

o Entry point and triage: Support delivery of a 24/7/365 response service: including receiving and recording relevant information; making an initial assessment of the nature, severity and potential impact of the incident/concern, considering threats, vulnerabilities and associated risks; advising judicial office holders on any next steps; and liaising with the appropriate operational partner(s) to take any action(s).

o Key point of contact for judicial office holders reporting security incidents, concerns or threats: Maintain ongoing contact with judicial office holders throughout the lifecycle of incidents, ensuring they are informed, supported and updated as appropriate.

o Liaison with operational partners: This will involve:

. Building and maintaining strong, collaborative relationships with key operational partners including the police, other law enforcement agencies, the National Protective Security Authority, intelligence agencies, HMCTS, MoJ, and the Government Security Group; and

. Requesting that operational partners investigate and mitigate security incidents/concerns.

• Procuring close protection: Where proportionate, request the provision of close protection officers for specific events, temporary periods, or on a longer-term basis for some judicial office holders at highest risk.

• Build and lead a high-performing team initially comprising 1 x SEO and 1 x HEO.

• Within six months, support the Head of the Judicial Security Office to conduct a review of the team’s demand, threat and risk to determine whether it needs to be scaled up.

• Set strategic direction for the team.

• Play an active role in the Judicial Security Office’s senior management team.

• Promote an inclusive culture within the team and the wider Judicial Security Office.

• Contribute to the wider development and success of the Judicial Security Office, and the Judicial Office overall.

• Build collaborative relationships with the judiciary, HMCTS, MoJ, law enforcement and other security organisations.

• Participate in an on-call rota for the wider Judicial Security Office to support the 24/7/365 incident response service. Any relevant MoJ allowance and overtime policies will apply, where appropriate.

Behaviours & Strengths (for Recruitment/Success Profiles):

Core behaviours

• Leadership (LEAD)

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working together

• Making Effective Decisions

• Delivering at Pace

These will be tested in your application and at interview.

Strengths will also be tested at interview

Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Experience of leading and developing staff.

• Experience working in a personal security, risk, resilience, investigations, law enforcement or operational response environment.

• Experience of working in and contributing to an inclusive and collaborative working culture.

• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to develop productive relationships across organisational boundaries.

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality outcomes in a fast-paced environment.

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal with the ability to explain complex issues clearly and confidently.

• Ability to provide clear, balanced and proportionate advice to a range of stakeholders.

• Ability to remain calm, resilient and professional when responding to sensitive or challenging situations.

• CTC clearance will be required when taking up post. SC or DV clearance may be required in due course.

• If not already a member, willing to work towards becoming a member of the Security Institute.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Membership of the Security Institute

Qualifications:

N/A

Security clearance required:

- CTC

Please note:

Central Government policy dictates that applicants for National Security Clearance must be a resident in the UK for these minimum periods:

- CTC - 3 years

Additional Information

There may be a need to attend meetings with the judiciary before or after court (before 9.30am and after 4.30pm) so there will be the need for flexibility in this regard.

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills, and potential fit within our organisation. This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

The selection process for this role will be:

Application Stage: Sift of CV and behaviour question(s) responses.

Interview Stage: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Application stage

Experience: You will be asked to submit an anonymous copy of your CV.

Behaviours: You will be asked to provide 250-word statements on the following:

• Leadership (Lead)

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working together

• Making Effective Decisions

• Delivering at Pace

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead Behaviour; Leadership

Feedback will not be provided at application or short-list stages.

Interview stage

All applicants that progress to interview will be assessed on Behaviours, Strengths and Experience in line with Civil Service Success Profiles, as set out above. It is anticipated that interviews will take place via MS Teams mid September, but please note that these dates are subject to change.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

If you would like to speak with someone about the role, please contact peopleserviceteam@judicidary.uk