Higher Research Officer

Government Skills, formally Government Skills and Curriculum unit, was created in 2020 to improve the coherence and quality of learning and development in government through better training, knowledge and networks. It is the backbone behind The Campus, a term used to unite all the locations, on and offline, where over 450,000 Civil Servants across Government develop the skills, knowledge and networks they need.

The aim was to accelerate the development of the skills, knowledge and networks of all civil servants, reaching across the wider public sector and delivering better public services for citizens across the country.

As we move into a new era under a new Government the aim is to reduce the cost of learning and improve the quality of outputs by moving to a new operating model. This is an exciting time of growth for Government Skills with new positions being created to support the future operating model.

Evidence and Impact

The Evidence and Impact team within Government Skills is responsible for ensuring that hundreds of millions of pounds of annual spend on developing the skills, knowledge and relationships of the Government workforce is evidence-based and impact-led. We use a combination of analytical methods covering monitoring/data analytics, social research, evaluation, statistics, behavioural and user research, and economic analysis to provide robust, purposeful insights to inform business decisions. Our evidence supports the creation of effective policy and strategy on the future skills needs of the government and wider public sector workforce, and supports effective design, commissioning and delivery of the interventions required to achieve this. The Evidence and Impact team is moving towards being a Centre of Skills Evidence, with this representing another step forward in our rapid growth to date. This will involve us continuing to support Government Skills and the wider skills sector with their evidence needs.

You can find more information about Government Skills on our GOV.UK page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-skills-and-curriculum-unit including about our team: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/evidence-based-learning-and-development

As Evidence and Impact Research Officer you will contribute to the design and delivery of monitoring, research and evaluation projects which contribute programmatically to the evidence base on what works, for who, in what conditions, and why, when building the capability and skills of the civil service and public sector workforce. As part of a diverse, and expanding, analytical team you will work in partnership with other analysts, and with policy and delivery colleagues, to build capacity across the system to develop and mobilise high quality evidence to develop the government and public sector workforce we need to deliver the Governments Missions and other key priorities.

You will apply your social research knowledge, skills and relationships to support robust and purposeful monitoring and evaluation approaches for specific programmes. You will support innovation through test, learn and grow approaches by supporting the team to find the right balance between speed of evidence and rigour. You will contribute to evidence reviews and mapping exercises to ensure we are making best use of existing evidence, and contribute to recommendations for new research and evaluation projects based on this. You will work with colleagues to design and deliver research projects which help us to understand the capability, learning and development landscape across Government, and help us design interventions that really improve the skills that matter, and work in the varied contexts of the civil service and public sector. You will work proactively across the whole Civil Service to support policy, delivery and investment teams working on civil service and public sector workforce capability, ensuring they have the evidence and tools they need to make

decisions.

You will report to a Grade 7 Evidence and Impact Lead, and alongside a varied team of social researchers, economists and statisticians across all grades. You will work on a range of projects across our varied business areas. These could include monitoring, research and evaluation to support Fast Stream and emerging talent programmes; leadership and management development; core and priority workforce skills like policy or digital, data and innovation; National Security capability; and priority projects, including digital and data transformation projects. This could also include work on Government Major Projects, and projects involving evaluation, research, or planning relating to the development of Government Skills or the Evidence & Impact team. We will support you to develop your core and technical skills and gain broad experience while in post.

Responsibilities will include:

• Undertake and support specific research and evaluation projects, ongoing monitoring activity, and thematic strands of our research

Candidates must be badged into the Government Social Research (GSR) profession at SRO level, as detailed later. Candidates who are not badged are still eligible to apply but would be required to complete the GSR knowledge test.

Essential:

• Knowledge of research and analytical methodologies and ability to demonstrate practical application of both qualitative and quantitative approaches through project-based work.
• Experience of undertaking analysis, using different sources of data and accurately interpreting results, demonstrating attention to