Policy Officer - Children and Young Londoners Team

All children deserve a healthy start in life and the Mayor is committed to helping children live healthy lives with a focus on reducing health inequalities.
We are looking for a motivated and talented individual to support our work on child health in the GLA Children and Young Londoners team.  The team’s work is varied and includes the Healthy Place, Healthy Weight mission which is making it easier for children and families to eat healthier food and be more active; London Healthy Schools and Healthy Early Years programmes; and work on mental health, care leavers and early years policy.  The successful candidate will work on a range of policies and programmes ensuring they help deliver the Mayor’s priorities.
Candidates will have good project management and policy skills and will need to demonstrate experience of working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders and knowledge of relevant policy and legislation.
This role is for 18 months and presents an ideal secondment opportunity.
Principal Accountabilities

1. Support delivery of the Healthy Place, Healthy Weight mission and contribute to health as a ‘cross-cutting principle’, maximising opportunities for local innovation and the improved delivery of public services.
2. Be responsible for the scoping and development of key policy areas, reflecting agreed Mayoral and partnership priorities working with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and other partners to maximise the impact of initiatives. Other scoping and delivery projects may be identified in response to any changes in Mayoral priorities and ambition.
3. Lead on programme management and implementation of agreed projects, including managing external commissions.
4. Where required, to support the sourcing, selection and appointment of consultants and contractors to carry out relevant work in accordance with relevant public procurement and GLA procedures and ensure delivery within the allocated budget, to time and quality.
5. Prepare written and oral briefings, advice and reports for the GLA, responses to Mayor’s questions and other correspondence. This may also include sharing the management and support to the Children & Young Londoners Team’s contribution to Mayor’s Questions and WriteOns (Mayor’s correspondence system).
6. Develop and maintain effective networks, partnerships and relationships with other teams, other parts of the GLA Group, and with external bodies across the public health and food sector and represent the GLA in a variety of forums. This will include working effectively with key system stakeholders including through Healthy Early Years and Healthy Schools London approaches, to support delivery of the missions.
7. Establish and maintain systems and process to ensure effective delivery of key projects and policies on time and in budget and that good financial management is in place, where required.
8. Lead on assembling, interpreting and analysing relevant information on food and child health to inform the policy, working closely with experts and stakeholders.
9. Support communications on policy issues related to reducing inequalities in children and young Londoners, setting out the Mayor and GLA perspectives and as a key objective of the London Health Inequalities Strategy.
   PERSON SPECIFICATION
   Technical Requirements/ Experience/ Qualifications
    A thorough knowledge of relevant policy and legislation and practice development related to child health to inform policy making and service delivery. Good knowledge of particular issues faced by children and young people living in London. An understanding of the issues associated with working in a complex political environment and the ability to negotiate and broker consensus within an organisation. Substantial experience of co-ordinating work across a number of stakeholders working in a partnership environment, including public sector agencies, voluntary and community groups and the private sector. Experience of project and programme management and reporting, of options appraisal and managing budgets, ideally with experience of managing multiple-project programmes and ensuring they deliver results on target and within budget, with first-hand experience of complex negotiation and monitoring issues and risks. Good understanding and practical experience of establishing effective monitoring and evaluation processes/systems. Knowledge of the structure of London government, in particular the respective roles of local authorities, the Mayor and GLA Group, and public health issues. Critical thinking, analytical and written skills, experience of analysing data from multiple sources and demonstrable ability to utilise these to assess, interpret, and present ideas, data, and information.
   Behavioural competencies
   Planning and Organising
   … is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard.
   Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance