GRS – HOME OFFICE

STARS - Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) – Inspector

Closing date: 11:55 pm on Tuesday 31 January 2023.

Ref: 259456

Salary: £65,500 - £72,050

Job grade: Grade 6

Location: Remote working (anywhere in the UK)

Job summary

The Home Office vision is for a safe, fair and prosperous UK. As well as working to reduce crime, enforce the law and protect our borders, we also work to protect the most vulnerable and are at the cutting edge of public policy making - our work is among the most challenging and rewarding in government.

Background to ASRU

The purpose of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) is to protect animals in science by maintaining compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act (ASPA). ASRU is a team of approximately 45 individuals, with an Inspectorate of approximately 15-20 full-time equivalents, which varies depending on business need.

This is an exciting time to join ASRU. We are currently driving an innovative regulatory reform programme to underpin delivery of our purpose, which means your role will evolve and adapt in response to a dynamic environment. You will work in a team in a matrix management structure to deliver ASRU’s licensing or compliance assurance responsibilities.

The ASRU team has expertise in regulation and diverse experience such as regulatory delivery and the veterinary and medical sciences. You will work with a mix of other roles and civil service grades.

Job description

The Inspector’s role is defined in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act (ASPA). The role is central to the maintenance of public confidence that protection of animals from unnecessary harms is properly safeguarded, as judged by both duty holders working under the terms of ASPA and the public. Inspectors have a key role in the implementation of the controls on regulated procedures applied to animals covered by ASPA.

The role offers an opportunity to build upon previous veterinary or medical practitioner experience to develop and utilise regulatory, leadership and strategic expertise.

The role is home-based with some requirement for travel in Great Britain to licensed establishments and attendance at meetings with colleagues and external stakeholders including overnight stays.

Applications for part-time working will be considered, subject to the need of the business.

Person specification

Some of your responsibilities will include:

Leadership:

• Leading by example and displaying a collaborative, servant leadership style that empowers colleagues at all levels in the organisation.

• Supporting designated projects to ensure effective communication, implementation and standardisation of practice.

• Providing expert advice on ASPA and ASRU standards to a wide variety of audiences in a variety of formats.

• Liaising with establishments as an ASRU representative, enabling the development and maintenance of robust governance systems and working relationships across the regulated community.

• Developing and implementing complex concepts, processes, and standards. Working with the community to translate these into improvements in supporting and assessing compliance with ASPA.

Operational Delivery:

• Providing day-to-day processing of casework, prioritising the workload appropriately and fully documenting decisions.

• Assessing applications for licences under ASPA making defensible, clearly documented, consistent decisions as to what licences can be legally authorised.

• Assessing compliance of licence holders with ASPA and their licence authorisations. This may include conducting remote and on-site interviews and investigation visits to decide on cases non-compliance including the application and effectiveness of remedies.

• Auditing establishments against agreed frameworks.

• Assessing and analysing complex data gathered from various sources, in order to identify patterns and trends to enable effective and informed decision making.

• Driving continuous performance improvement across the regulated community by proactively benchmarking performance using both internal and external comparators adopting leading practice to realise these improvements.

Essential criteria

Qualifications and training:

Full registration with either the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) or the General Medical Council (GMC). Medically qualified inspectors do not need to maintain a licence to practice.

Knowledge and experience:

• Knowledge and/or experience of biomedical and life sciences research including research principles, the UK research environment and the UK research integrity, ethics, and regulatory framework.

• Experience in data collection, integration, analysis and reporting.

• Experience in developing, implementing, and assessing policies, procedural documents, governance systems and structures and standards.

• Experience of positively influencing senior individuals.

• Record of achievement of delivering objectives and finding innovative solutions to problems.

• Broad experience and evidence of working in partnership with individuals and organisations to influence and negotiate effective change.

• Experience in communicating complex technical and/or legal subjects to a wide variety of audiences in an engaging manner that makes information clear.

Specific skills:

• Able to work independently to tight deadlines and to prioritise effectively against conflicting priorities.

• Able to work individually and as part of a team to deliver ambiguous and often changing requirements.

• Able to flex and deliver at pace and provide leadership, motivation and inspiration according to business needs.

• Able to change into and work in personal protective equipment and navigate a wide variety of licensed establishments.

• Proficient in the use of MS Office, including Word and Excel.

Desirable criteria

• Experience in working within and/or managing/establishing compliance, quality, or regulatory frameworks in any sector.

• Experience of auditing/assessing establishments against regulatory frameworks.

• Experience of applying, developing, and implementing improvements to systems and governance structures.

Qualifications

Applicants must be a qualified medical doctor or veterinarian.

Memberships

Full membership with either the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) or the General Medical Council (GMC).

Contact point for applicants

Home Office Resourcing Centre: 

 HORCCampaignTeamCorporateEnablers@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment Team:

HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Please quote reference 259456. 

Closing date: 11:55 pm on Tuesday 31 January 2023.

Please send your CV via the APPLY button.