Job-Specific Recruitment

These recommendations can be accepted in full.

They have been addressed through work to date, including:
• job-specific appointments within the NICS generalist grades;
• the piloting of Cabinet Office’s “Commercial Skills Assessment and Development Centre” to evaluate its potential as a mechanism to improve commercial skills across NI Departments;
• the encouragement of senior leaders to access the Cabinet Office / Oxford University Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA);
• the introduction of a new portfolio of commercial awareness and skills training for all generalist grades;
• the introduction of a learning and development framework for economists, including commercial awareness.
• assurances sought from Departments that senior managers will, as a matter of course, review the levels of specific expertise required to deliver their business and take appropriate steps to secure the appropriate expertise and manage the associated risks;
• the issue of corporate guidance on managing handovers for incorporation within departmental procedures;

Further work is required to:
• reform the role and sponsorship of the Civil Service Commissioners for NI
• launch and implement talent management products across the NICS;
• Deliver NICS Recruitment Plan - phase 1 & 2
• Match to job roles and appoint further staff via SO/DP recruitment competition
• Agree scope and timeframe for review of NICS recruitment;
• Develop proposals for the review of NICS workforce model (disciplines, occupational groups, professions, job roles, etc)
• Develop terms of reference for the review of NICS approach to professions. To incorporate recommendations arising from NIAO VFM report and PAC report
• Further alignment of NICSHR resources and operations to deliver on NICS corporate HR priorities including resourcing activities for critical posts.
• Ongoing improvement of recruitment and selection processes.
• Incorporation of the sequencing and flexibility of handling staff moves to secure business (alongside the ongoing work on talent management and skills development) into the review of resourcing.
• Progress implementation of new processes and procedures that enable line managers’ capability and confidence in their people-management roles
• extend the work of the Policy Community;
• develop the role of the SRO in ensuring they have the right skills available to them to deliver the policy, including externally-sourced expertise;
• develop the Guidance on the Use of Professional Services including Consultants, including issues of the ‘intelligent customer’ role and the knowledge transfer needed;
• develop the guidance on assessing the need for specialist support within project management / assurance methodologies, in the TEO Guide to Policy Making.

DoF will complete the revision of recruitment and selection policy by March 2025.

An assessment of its impact upon securing continuity of business will be undertaken following implementation.

Following the completion of the review, monitoring of this commitment will be incorporated within the monitoring of the People Strategy.

The DoF set up the People & Organisational Development Group on 1 November 2022, separating from NICSHR the key business as usual functional delivery areas inextricably linked to delivery of this change in approach to recruiting, developing and managing careers in the Civil Service.

Work has commenced to map out the key deliverables and confirm the associated investment needed to deliver this challenging change agenda.

A Recruitment and Selection Development group has been established between the Civil Service and the NI Civil Service Commissioners to work collaboratively on reviewing NICS recruitment policy and processes.

The following actions have been delivered in response to this recommendation, with further work in train:
• development of overarching recruitment framework (to support external recruitment as default method with job role recruitment approach), which is currently subject to CTUS consultation. Progress has been hampered due to ongoing industrial relations strike action;
• revised secondment policy and development of a new apprenticeship policy;
• development of new entry routes into the Civil Service to support development of skills and leadership talent pipeline, including the Graduate Management Programme; a new Civil Service Skills Academy new apprenticeship schemes; and the JobStart Scheme (aimed at young, unemployed, disabled persons); Further work in train includes:
• the development of an employee mobility policy to support the movement of staff at grade to best utilise existing skills or support career development;
• SCS talent management including the introduction of a fair and transparent approach to SCS career development moves; talent biographies to support talent management discussions; and a revised approach to setting personal performance objectives and development needs.

The recommendation is likely to be fully implemented based on the planned action.

We will, however, continue to monitor the effectiveness of actions taken to implement this recommendation in future reviews.