Head of Public Protection & Enforcement

Full Vacancy Description

JOB TITLE:  Head of Public Protection & Enforcement

REPORTING STRUCTURE

Reports to:     Director Community Safety and Enforcement

Direct Reports:          up to 10

Indirect Reports:       Up to 125

ROLE PURPOSE:

Lead the Council's regulatory and enforcement functions in relation to Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Licensing and Street Scene and Environmental Enforcement, ensuring agreed service plans and performance targets are delivered and that a culture of putting our residents first and continuous service improvement is maintained.

Responsible for shaping and leading the delivery of Council regulatory and enforcement policy and statutory obligations and, operate to the highest standards in accordance with the Council’s plans, financial obligations, ensuring the provision of an exemplary service to the Council and residents.

Lead the statutory and regulatory functions of the Public Protection and Enforcement Teams, ensuring an intelligence led, pro- active service is delivered to help keep residents safe from harm and ensure high neighbourhood standards are maintained for residents.

Lead a pro-active service which requires an expert level of knowledge of regulatory, public protection and enforcement services.

Work closely with and be accountable to Elected Members and Committees to deliver services in line with corporate priorities. Pro-actively promote the service to residents.

Establish strong operational processes and procedures, monitoring closely the delivery of service standards against statutory responsibilities and demonstrating that standards have been adhered to.

Lead co-ordinated, joined up service delivery including agreed programmes of action across the Borough to help keep residents safe from harm.

A.        Job Description

1.         Customer Management

Accountable for the provision of an efficient, resident focused service to residents within the Borough.

Ensure the service complies with the principles of equal access and non- discriminatory practice and is accessible to all members of the community.

Provide a high quality, resident focused advice, enforcement, regulation and technical advice service across all areas, by building a team that deals efficiently and effectively with complex casework across the range of functions bringing positive outcomes for residents, stakeholders, businesses, elected members and colleagues.

Manage and resolve conflict effectively and challenge appropriately when there is a risk that regulatory standards are not maintained and use enforcement powers effectively, when required.

Use information and intelligence from team working to understand the local needs and changing demands of businesses and residents.

Demonstrate understanding of the Council’s Customer Care Standards and ensure that these standards are met in order to deliver the Council vision of ‘putting our residents first’.

2.         People Management

Responsible for the selection, development and performance of the Public Protection and Enforcement services team members in line with the Council’s HR policies.

To build and maintain a strong, skilled, and resilient team to respond to ongoing change and developments in the service and to develop individuals to their full professional potential ensuring that they are aware of their contribution to the achievement of Council objectives.

Ensure all team members receive the appropriate level of communication to maintain engagement with the Council’s activities.

Responsible for maintaining a safe and healthy working environment in line with Health & Safety at Work Act (1974).

3.         Operational Service Delivery

Leading the delivery and co-ordination of the Public Protection and Enforcement functions, ensuring risks are identified and controlled, and that service delivery is compliant with statutory obligations.

Represent and be accountable to the Director on all aspects relating to the co- ordination of Public Protection and Enforcement services.

Overseeing strong operational processes and procedures, monitoring closely the delivery of service standards against statutory responsibilities, and demonstrating that high standards have been adhered to.

Leading a portfolio of service-wide change projects to drive strategic improvements, contributing to the Council’s corporate priorities.

Support the transformation of services in actively identifying and implementing new ways of working, focusing on delivering improved outcomes for residents, whilst mitigating resource pressures.

Link the Council’s Climate Action strategic plan objectives to service delivery and support the achievement of sustainable, environmental and carbon-neutral targets.

Provide advice to the Director, other chief officers and Elected Members on strategic, statutory and operational issues and represent the Director on all aspects of the role, including London, regional and national groups.

Research, develop, implement, and review the Council’s strategies for Regulatory Services, its associated policies and action plans to ensure that they link with national strategy from government bodies i.e. FSA, HSE, DEFRA, OPSS, BEIS, etc and to ensure that they remain relevant and deliverable.

Lead, develop and maintain a fair, robust and effective approach across services to complex and specialist enforcement activities.

Manage the efficient and effective handling of any Member enquiries, FOI requests etc. to ensure that the Council's Members, residents and other stakeholders are provided with appropriate, accurate and timely information. Lead on required action and ensure analysis of complaints and enquiries contributes to service planning.

Ensure all statutory and compliance obligations are met, reported on and formally documented and implemented through the Council’s risk management systems.

Review, manage and develop policy, business processes and procedures to ensure compliance with all relevant regulations, and establish a quality assurance framework to demonstrate compliance and learning for service improvement. This includes the statutory Licensing and Gambling policy framework, Council Enforcement Policy. Review and keep updated key service delivery plans, including the Food Service Plan.

Ensure IT systems are developed/introduced to support the effective planning, delivery and monitoring of the teams' workloads. To develop and ensure the rigorous maintenance of accurate records in approved formats. Ensuring effective monitoring systems are in place.

Keep up to date and meet the requirements of GDPR legislation, ensuring that self and staff closely follow service, corporate and legal guidelines with regard to the confidentiality of sensitive or personal data and information

Ensure competence in all relevant corporate procedures ensuring that relevant staff are trained and compliant with these council processes.

Represent the council positively and proactively in a professional manner to all contacts.

Liaise with relevant Government departments and other agencies as required to deliver the various aspects of the service in line with legislative requirements and other guidance.

Scrutinise legal actions before submission to the Director and the commissioning of Legal Services, ensuring high quality case files and evidence are produced for prosecutions or enforcement actions that are in line with the legal framework and the Enforcement Policy. 

4.         Service Planning & Development

Ensure that all annual Team and Service Plans are developed, aligned to the Council Plan, agreed, and communicated to team members in a timely manner.

Focus on delivering better and continuously improving outcomes and targets for the borough and its residents through the development and delivery of strategic business planning, service improvement programmes and effective business performance management.

Ensure clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place where appropriate, covering all aspects of service delivery with performance and response levels, together with the escalation process if SLA’s are not met.

Maintain a current service workforce plan including a succession plan for all key roles.

Work in a corporate and collaborative way with Corporate Directors, Heads of Service and Service Managers across the Council and work as part of the Directorate Senior Leadership Team to contribute to Directorate priorities and initiatives.

5.         Financial & Resource Management

To take responsibility for the effective management of the allocated budget for Department/Service.  To undertake regular reviews of the service budget to identify opportunities for efficiencies, income generation, and new ways of working.

Develop and embed commercial approaches to service delivery including leading effective and collaborative commissioning and procurement of services, innovative, alternative delivery models, development of business cases and the identification of new income streams.

To ensure all purchasing, procurement and contract management is conducted in line with the corporate guidelines with appropriate use of the Council’s financial systems.

To ensure that all workforce expenditure is compliant with corporate guidance and that any temporary resource is purchased through the Council’s agency contracts.

6.         Continuous Improvement

Implement continuous monitoring of team and individual performance and productivity to ensure the delivery of any Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) are maximised.

Accountable for successfully delivering and implementing each year a portfolio of cross-cutting improvement and change projects using the Council’s Project Management and Service Improvement methodologies.

Develop a culture of performance monitoring and management, based around management information from case management or workflow software.

7.         Contacts

Internal : All Council departments relevant to the business of the service, including Community Safety, ASB, Planning Enforcement, Private Sector Housing, Safeguarding, Public Health plus senior managers and Elected Members

External : businesses, service users and Residents, Central Government departments and agencies, EU regulators, other LAs, contractors, Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, Health Services, local authority Trading Standards Services, the National Trading Standards Board, the National Crime Agency, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, Accredited Financial Investigators in other agencies

8.         Additional Responsibilities

Chair and attend appropriate multi agency, strategic groups to plan and develop improved practice and service delivery.

Complete other reasonable tasks in order to fulfil role purpose or as required by the Corporate Leadership Team.

9.         Key Performance Indicators

Delivery against any agreed Service Levels and Standards

Including processing of Food Imports.

Delivery against allocated budgets and MTFF saving targets.

Delivery of agreed PADA objectives

B.        Person Specification

Head of Public Protection and Enforcement

This person specification will be used for recruitment to this post. It will form the basis of the application form, and candidates will be also assessed against aspects of this person specification at interview.

1. QUALIFICATIONS

Degree or higher education qualification and proven experience of managing diverse regulatory teams in a public sector background.                  

Evidence of continuous professional development                   

Membership of a relevant professional body or institution                   

Recognised management & leadership qualification                

2. STATUTORY or ROLE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service which will include evenings and weekends as required        

Valid UK driving licence and use of own vehicle

Ability to undertake meetings/visits across the borough as required

3. EXPERIENCE

Successful experience in developing and leading the strategies and operation in a field that is related to regulatory service and enforcement               

Extensive experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams in a regulatory area with evidence of success         

Evidence of success in building and maintaining productive working relationship with service teams, businesses and statutory agencies, including Government departments.     

Experience of providing specialist expert advice, preparing cogent business cases and making recommendations to Senior Managers and Elected Members to improve or commission new services.                   

Experience in effectively managing and maintaining budgets to mitigate resource pressure                    

Experience of effectively leading consultations and activities, to ensure the views of residents are reflected in service strategy and operation                     

Experience of successfully managing a programme of complex projects involving a range of partners.                    

Experience of preparing written reports and presentations to senior managers, Elected Members and staff groups.      

4. KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

Expert knowledge of a regulatory specialism                 

Sound understanding of wider council and service strategy objectives, services and initiatives and an understanding of how these interface with delivery of regulatory services and to use this to inform service delivery and share information with staff.

Excellent verbal, written and presentational skills with the proven ability to present complex information in a simple manner to a variety of audiences        

Experience of overseeing complex enforcement investigations including the application of RIPA, PACE and other legal framework towards guiding successful prosecution or enforcement outcomes.           

Ability to provide leadership to the service management team and empower and motivate staff to ensure optimum delivery of services.                  

Proven ability to successfully plan and manage complex projects involving a wide range of stakeholders that cross service and professional boundaries.

Proven negotiation and influencing skills to build strong partnership and to negotiate and challenge senior staff in a constructive way, to influence decision making.        

Excellent IT skills to include Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint and the use of databases and related analytical software, including survey software.             

5. COMPETENCESESSENTIAL

“Can do” positive attitude

Demonstrates a commitment to changing work practices and processes, and a willingness to try new ways of working or thinking.

Takes responsibility and delivers results

Adapts to changing demands to ensure that objectives are met, overcoming problems and making well considered decisions. 

Team working

Acts as a role model to others in the team, sharing knowledge and experience when necessary, whilst respecting and valuing the contribution other team members’ experiences can bring.        

Communication

Demonstrates well developed written and verbal communication skills; and the confidence to present reports and verbal accounts credibly to a variety of different audiences.   

Customer Care

Develops contacts and relationships with customer/ client groups, regularly reviewing service delivery and taking responsibility to ensure quality service provision.

Takes ownership of personal development

Takes action to develop own and others' capability and knowledge by promoting and supporting developmental opportunities to improve performance.