Correspondence Drafter

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink. Encouraging diverse applicants We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups. The Ministerial Contact Unit (MCU) is a busy operational unit with three branches: correspondence, information rights and parliamentary and cabinet business. Within the correspondence arm of the MCU, we deal with thousands of letters and e-mails from members of the public, MPs and stakeholders. Each of these interactions is an important opportunity to explain Defra's objectives and activities to people who care about Defra's agenda. We also have the chance to provide customers with a positive experience of dealing with Defra, which is important to the department's reputation and people's confidence in our policies and services. Our correspondence team is fast paced and works closely with ministerial and policy teams, covering issues across Defra. We are a flexible and supportive team that offers excellent opportunities for career progression and personal development, as well as developing a detailed knowledge of the Department's work. As a Correspondence Drafter and Business support, you will be given direct responsibility for coordinating responses to correspondence, through engaging with colleagues across the department. As well as drafting correspondence, there will be the opportunity to provide business support to the Ministerial Contact Unit. MCU sits within the Strategy Directorate, which is a fast-paced, dynamic, and challenging environment. Our purpose is to give a high quality and timely service to Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, and to ensure that Defra group is able to achieve the strategic objectives we set out in our Business Plan. We work in support of Defra's strategic objectives, look at how we can join up with other initiatives across the organisation to get things done, support each other to deliver excellent work, help Defra to make good decisions and we identify and unblock barriers to change. The successful candidate will be responsible a range of duties relating to correspondence, including:

• Drafting responses to correspondence from the public, MPs and key stakeholders;
• Working with Ministers' Private Offices to ensure that drafts take account of Ministerial preferences;
• Liaising with policy teams to obtain the latest information in order to respond to customer enquiries on Defra's business;
• Assisting with the preparation of ministerial packs ahead of oral parliamentary questions;
• Developing a comprehensive case management system to ensure correspondence is processed in a timely and efficient manner;
• Working across teams to develop best practice and set high standards across the unit;
• Completing correspondence to a high standard and within tight deadlines; and
• Providing business support to the Ministerial Contact Unit's Information Rights Team.