Executive Officer (Lord Speaker's Office)

Background

The primary role of the Lord Speaker is to preside over proceedings in the Chamber, and to represent the House of Lords both at ceremonial events and as a non-political spokesperson for the House. He is Chairman of the House of Lords Commission, a member of the Procedure and Privileges Committee, and has political responsibility for security in the Lords part of the Parliamentary estate. The Lord Speaker acts as an ambassador for the Lords both at home and abroad, explaining and promoting the work of the House of Lords and its vital contribution to the UK’s parliamentary system. In addition, he has frequent meetings with members of the House, officials and people working outside parliament.

The Lord Speaker’s Office is managed by the Principal Private Secretary who is the Head of Office. The Private Office team comprises a Private Secretary, two Assistant Private Secretaries, a Diary Manager, an Events and Outreach Officer and an Executive Officer [This advertised post]. The postholder will be managed by an Assistant Private Secretary. On days the House sits, the office is fully operational between 9.30am and 6.30pm.

Main objective

The post holder’s time will be primarily focused on providing administrative support to the panel of Deputy Speakers and the Lord Speaker’s Office as a whole. In undertaking this role, the post holder will interact regularly with individual Peers and their staff, and with staff of the Administration.

Key internal and external relationships

• Lord Speaker
• All colleagues in the Lord Speaker’s office.
• Assistant Head of International Relations.
• All levels of House of Lords Administration staff, including the Clerk Assistant Members of the House, especially the panel of Deputy Speakers
• Members’ staff

Line management and budgetary responsibilities

This post has no line management or formal budgetary responsibilities.

Other responsibilities of the post

• Acting as the main point of contact for the Deputy Speakers, including arranging the weekly Woolsack and Grand Committee rota, arranging weekly Deputy Speaker meetings and providing an agenda.
• Processing the Lord Speaker’s Office’s invoice authorisation forms, querying invoices and allocating payments to specific budgetary codes.
• Compiling quarterly transparency data for the Lord Speaker’s Office and assisting with responding to FOI requests.
• Maintaining an accurate record of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Acting as records officer, ensuring the Lord Speaker’s Office adheres to the Administration’s records management policy.
• Providing the House of Lords Commission secretariat with administrative support where required.
• Undertaking general office management tasks and other duties to support the work of the Lord Speaker alongside the Private

The qualifications required for the post are:

A minimum of 5 GCSEs at grades A-C or equivalent

Essential

• Collaboration and Teamwork - Effective team working skills, with an ability to share best practice and to show flexibility towards covering the work of the office.
• Building Working Relationships - Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build and maintain good working relationships, both orally and in writing, with a broad range of people at all levels within the
• Problem Solving and Attention to detail– Good attention to detail with proven administrative Experience of using initiative to solve problems.
• Professionalism, Tact and Discretion - Excellent judgement and the ability to use tact and discretion at all times.
• Prioritisation and Delivering at Pace – The ability to prioritise own workload and experience of working under pressure and on one’s own initiative to tight deadlines; and
• Knowledge and experience of IT systems - Good IT skills, including proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel.

Please see the Job Description for more information