Senior Scientific Officer (Scientific Advisory Committees Secretariat)

In the Department of Health and Social Care, we are proud of our purpose - to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you would like to work in, we would love to hear from you. The Health Improvement Directorate leads on evidence based public health policy and programmes to prevent and reduce the health and social impact caused by drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, unhealthy diets, obesity and physical inactivity. We have a hugely challenging work programme, which if successful will drive real change:

• If everyone ate in line with our dietary advice, we would increase population life expectancy by eight years
• We are creating the first smoke free generation - the biggest public health intervention in a generation.
• We are reducing alcohol and gambling harms .
• We are expanding drug and alcohol treatment and recovery support .
A large proportion (38%) of ill health and premature death is linked to potentially preventable risk factors, many of which are related to diet and obesity. Improving diet and reducing excess weight is key priority of the Health Mission. The Health Improvement Directorate has two divisions working to improve nutrition and address excess weight. The Nutrition Evidence, Surveys and Translation (NEST) Division, in which these scientific roles sit, is divided into three areas of responsibility:
• Appraisal of nutrition science, secretariat to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) who undertake population dietary risk assessment, secretariat to the Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) who are responsible for the risk assessment of new nutrition and health claim applications, and a childhood obesity surveillance
• Dietary intakes surveillance, reformulation and food environment monitoring
• Advising and translating scientific evidence on diet, nutrition and obesity for DHSC policy, other government departments and the wider public health system.
NEST works closely with the Healthy Weight and Nutrition Division who lead on diet, obesity and physical activity policy. The Nutrition Science team provides support to the Department's independent scientific advisory committees - SACN and UKNHCC - and has responsibility for dietary surveys such as the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) and Infant Feeding Survey (IFS). This advert relates to 2 roles in the SACN/UKNHCC team. These posts are in the Nutrition Science team that provides the secretariat for SACN and its Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition (SMCN) and for the UKNHCC. The post holder will provide scientific support to the work of the committees. This will involve using technical knowledge of nutrition science, critical analysis and writing skills to produce committee papers and related documents. The post holder will need to co-ordinate with other members of the SACN and UKNHCC secretariats to ensure that the work is done to the agreed standard and timetable. The post holders will need to work closely with the external scientific experts, particularly those who are members of SACN and its sub and working groups, and UKNHCC. The post holder will also provide advice, based on sound scientific evidence, to colleagues in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and other government departments and to other external stakeholders. Key work areas in the team at present include: nutrition and maternal health; plant-based drinks; sweeteners and processed foods. These posts will report to the SACN/UKNHCC Team Leaders. Responsibilities These posts will involve interrogating the scientific basis for public health nutrition and supporting the development of evidence-based policy and advice in this field. Main responsibilities include:
• Providing support to SACN and related sub and working groups (and in particular, leading day-to-day secretariat support on specific risk assessments), including overseeing the drafting of meeting minutes, leading the preparation of evidence summaries and discussion papers for meetings to support SACN risk assessments, and leading the drafting of SACN reports;
• Providing the scientific secretariat to the UKNHCC, including preparing and publishing of scientific opinions on nutrition and health claim applications;
• Providing expert advice and support on nutrition science across OHID (primarily the Health Improvement Directorate), DHSC and wider government;
• Identifying and evaluating other sources of food and diet information and incorporating these into the team's work;
• Working with analysts and other colleagues across OHID in the interpretation and use of food and dietary information to support public health nutrition objectives;
• Preparing briefings, evaluations of evidence and other material to support evidence-based policy development and monitor progress toward public health nutrition objectives;
• Drafting responses to general and media enquiries, parliamentary questions and Ministers correspondence on relevant nutrition issues;
• Support team leaders in committee management (includes arranging, and managing minutes of, meetings; member appraisals and recruitment and recording of declarations of interests).
The post holder will develop working relationships and communicate regularly with a wide range of individuals, clinical and non-clinical, internal and external to OHID.

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