South West and Civil Service Local Newsletter

Edition Two New Permanent Secretary Champion

March 2017

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of our We are delighted to announce that Sue Owen from DCMS has newsletter. agreed to take on the role of Permanent Secretary Champion the South West and Wales. In it you will find lots of information and news on Sue became Permanent Secretary for Department for Culture, forthcoming events and Media and Sport on 1 October 2013. In July 2014 Sue became volunteering opportunities. the Civil Service LGB&T Champion and was appointed overall Civil Service Diversity Champion in August 2015. She has championed diversity and inclusion throughout her career; as Thank you an academic working on women's lower lifetime earnings; working on parental leave at No10; as disability champion at Nita, Heidi, June, Louise HM Treasury, researching women's progress to the senior civil Dannii service since 2008, as LGB&T Champion in DFID and DWP. She is married to Prof. Martin Albrow and has one son (24) and The Civil Service Local Team 3 older stepsons. She lives in SE , is a keen cook and gardener and supports Everton FC.

’Meet the Neighbours’ Learning and Networking event in Plymouth .

On the 22nd of March we will be hosting an event themed Are you signed up? around ‘Meet the Neighbours’ for all Civil Service departments You can keep up to date with based in Plymouth. It will be an opportunity for all local all our events by signing up to departments to connect and network. The event is being held at receive email notifications via the Plymouth Council House from 10.30am to 1.30pm. our blog. Select the email icon under ’sign up for If you would like to register to attend, please do so online here. updates’ on the right hand You will need to seek approval from your line manager and any side and sign up today! travel and subsistence costs must be met by your department. This can count towards your 5 a year learning and development days.

Do you want to be part of a new

network?

Are you responsible for the recruitment and management of apprentices in Bristol?

We are looking to set up a Civil Service Live 2017 Bristol Apprenticeship Network as a forum for our colleagues to share information and ideas on Get involved in Civil Service Live learning and career paths Civil Service Live is looking for mentors and volunteers – can for Civil Service you help? This year events are being held in Edinburgh, Apprentices in Bristol. If Manchester, Gateshead, Cardiff, Birmingham and London you have apprentices and between 8 June and 12 July. Full details and how to sign up are interested in sharing are on the Get Involved pages of the Civil Service Live practice and ideas, Please website. contact Nita Murphy.

Applications to exhibit at these events is also now open. Exhibition stand space is free of charge to government departments at the regional events, and at a reduced cost at Join us on loan the London event. To apply for a stand space, please complete the form by 17 March. An opportunity has arisen to join he team on loan as Once you have entered all of the details for your application, a Citizen Engagement please make sure that you tick the check box next to your Manager. entry, and then click the 'Submit' button. Applications that The post is a loan opportunity have not been submitted will not be reviewed. and your department will need to be prepared to fund your Registration to attend will open in April 2017. salary costs. So please check with your finance team/manager before applying.

Equality & Diversity Here is a copy of the advert and if you would like to discuss

the post in more detail, please We are committed to ensuring that wherever possible our contact Nita Murphy. The events are accessible to all participants. closing date for completed expressions of interest is If you have any requirements that would help you access our Friday 24th March and if you services, please let us know and we will endeavour to make want to apply, please send Nita any reasonable changes. an email for a copy of the form.

Please let us know if we are doing something that would . discourage you from using our services.

Thank you Forthcoming

Discovery Sessions

Find out more about joining the Reserve Forces

When: 4th April 2017

Where: Conference room 8, 2 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol

Time: 10:00 till 11:30 or 12:00 till 13:30

Booking: online here via Eventbrite

More information about this session can be found on our Blog pages.

Forthcoming Network meetings

7th March 2017 Staff Engagement [email protected]

th 9 March 2017 Learning & Development [email protected]

21th March 2017 Bristol Schools Outreach [email protected]

27th March 2017 Diversity & Inclusion [email protected]

20th April 2017 Continuous Improvement [email protected]

12th May 2017 Regional Redeployment [email protected]

7th June 2017 Attendance & Wellbeing [email protected]

Volunteers needed

We need volunteers for the following events:

10th March Wiltshire College, Southampton Road, Salisbury

Interview techniques and mock interviews – all day event

14th March Salisbury Disability Group, 22 Queen Street, Salisbury

Interview techniques workshop and mock interviews

10:30am – 12:30pm

21st March Folly Farm, Somerset

Rose bush clearance- 9:45am to 4pm

28th March Bath College

Mock interviews 9:30am to 11am

3rd April Digitech School, Bristol

Mock interviews- 9:30am until around midday

7th April Orchard Academy, Bristol

Mock interviews – timings to be confirmed

3rd & 4th May Bath College

Mock interviews-Timing to be confirmed

20th June Bristol Metropolitan Academy

Mock Interviews – 8.30am to 12pm

Please contact [email protected] for more information

Compete ncy Surgery - 10th May in Cardiff

We are looking for volunteers to share their skills and knowledge in our latest competency surgery, giving 1:1 advice to other civil servants.

We would like Grade 6 to Executive Officers who have sifting experience to volunteer their time to help civil servants writing competency examples for job applications at an event at Companies House in Cardiff. The event is taking place on 10 May 2017.

If you can help, please contact Nita Murphy with details of your grade, department and sifting experience, plus any other information which you feel is relevant.

Why get involved?

DWP Mock Interviews

We recently worked with DWP to deliver a pilot programme in Plymouth to increase the employability skills of clients through the delivery of mock interviews.

Here are comments from some of the volunteers who took part:

“helps develop my skills and meet new people as well as helping others”

“I’ve recommended taking part in these interviews to others in the office as well”

“Doing the mock interviews was a really good experience and I’d gladly volunteer to do it again”.

“The people I interviewed were really enthusiastic and it was sad to see them lacking in confidence and leading with their disabilities or shortfalls”.

“Thank you for the experience”.

We also received the following feedback from staff at the Jobcentre:

“The feedback so far has been really positive from customers and staff feel we would benefit from making this a regular event”

As a result of this feedback we will be holding more mock interview sessions in Plymouth and have also been asked to roll them out in Exeter Jobcentre with the first session being held on the 21st April.

Please contact [email protected] for more information.

So, if you would like a chance to:

 brush up on your skills and learn new ones;  use one of your 3 volunteering days;  meet colleagues from other departments and;  help others in a positive way, then please volunteer to take part in one of our events.