Briefings & Correspondence & Freedom of Information Manager

Location - London or Birmingham

Salary:Base salary: From £41,092 pa Birmingham or £44,380 pa London  depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer flexible benefits fund of 15% which is paid on top base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits - check them out in the Benefits section on our website.

This is a Fixed Term Contract opportunity until 30th September 2027 after which in some circumstances the role may become a permanent position. 

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

As a Briefings, Correspondence and FOI (BCFOI) Manager at HS2 you will  plays a key role in managing HS2 Ltd’s reputation internally and externally, ensuring the company fulfils its statutory duties and delivers on agreements with the Department for Transport and with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

About the role: 

• Actively promote and embed Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI
• Deputise for the Senior Manager BCFOI to protect HS2 Ltd’s reputation internally and externally by ensuring that the transparency obligations within the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) are fully discharged in a timely manner and comply with the service level agreements (SLAs) set by the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Independent Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Deputise for the Senior Manager BCFOI as the principal HS2 Ltd authority on FOI and EIR, provide strategic and expert advice to senior colleagues, including HS2 Executive members and the CEO Office on relevant legislation in response to briefings and FOI requests (for example on Section 36 notices which must be issued by the CEO).
• Deputise for the Senior Manager BCFOI in managing the relationships between HS2 Ltd and other key external stakeholders including the Information Commissioner’s Office, the correspondence team in the Department for Transport, Members of Parliament, and Peers, to ensure the legally compliant, consistent, and coherent delivery of an efficient BCFOI service.
• Oversee and manage the day-to-day process for and caseload of the Briefings, Correspondence & FOI (BCFOI) team in discharging the company’s statutory duties regarding Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) requests, HS2 Ltd’s Publication Scheme, written Parliamentary Questions, Correspondence (to the HS2 Ltd Chair and CEO), Ministerial correspondence and the Parliamentary Advice Line.
• Manage the development of effective and professional working relationships and information flows, contact points and approval points across HS2 Ltd regarding requests for information, deputising for the Senior Manager BCFOI in chairing regular meetings to ensure timely co-ordination between the Helpdesk, Complaints, Special Cases, Line of Route and other key engagement and stakeholder managers.
• Manage the preparation of high quality, accurate and timely responses to information and briefing requests, acting as an escalation point for complex and strategically important queries, ensuring that statutory obligations and public affairs and stakeholder engagement strategies are met while appropriately safeguarding HS2 Ltd’s reputation.
• Develop and maintain briefing materials, templates and reports, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the team and the company.
• Provide leadership to the team of BCFOI Advisers, driving the adoption of best practice and supporting their professional development.
• Develop and maintain an overview of the issues and risks raised by stakeholders, identifying and feeding back into the business key risks and opportunities.
• Develop and run an awareness and training programme across the business, ensuring two-way understanding of the briefings, correspondence and freedom of information, Environmental Information Regulations and vother related statutory requirements on HS2 Ltd, learning and sharing lessons from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and Tribunal decisions and developing best practice.
• Lead the administration and management of the HS2 senior stakeholder speaker engagement programme.
• Work as part of the BCFOI/Public Affairs rota, performing on-call out of hours duties when required.

About You:

Skills:

• Management skills in leading teams to achieve set deliverables within tight deadlines to specified standards.
• Influencing and negotiation skills with both internal and external audiences, including at senior level.
• Ability to deliver quality, accurate and targeted communications at a senior level, internally and externally – including drafting communications for a variety of channels, representing an organisation with the ability to conduct/facilitate workshops and training sessions.
• Advisory skills at senior level internally and externally on complex matters in the application of legislation and official guidance.
• Stakeholder management at an internal and external senior level - with the ability to adapt to different audiences and deal with difficult stakeholders particularly in a complex political and challenging environment.
• Analytical skills, including the ability to collate, interpret and present complex information with clarity and consistency.
• Organisational and planning skills, with the ability to work to agreed deadlines in an agile environment.
• Problem resolution skills, with the ability to identify issues and exercise judgement to solve complex problems, and lead escalation as required.
• Ability to handle confidential information sensitively and discretely.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office programmes, especially Excel

Knowledge:

• Political awareness and understanding of matters relating to HS2.
• Knowledge of the planning and parliamentary process.
• Understanding of corporate communications, community engagement best practice, internal communications, social media, public relations, media relations, and customer complaints processes.
• Detailed knowledge of the principles and application of the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and associated legislation, guidance, and codes of practice.
• Understanding of government communications processes.
• Understanding of customer relationship management (CRM) databases.
• Knowledge of transport and/or major infrastructure projects.

Experience:

• Experience in managing and supporting teams in responding to briefings, correspondence and freedom of information requests with multiple stakeholders, including at senior level, internally and externally to meet statutory requirements
• Experience of managing teams to deliver briefings and correspondence information and requests to meet statutory requirements within tight deadlines.
• Experience in managing FOI/EIR requests (and the requirements of the FOI Act 2000 and EIR 2004).
• Experience of managing financial, policy and technical concepts to deliver accessible and accurate briefings and FOI correspondence.
• Experience in managing, processing and handling sensitive data and enquiries in a challenging environment.
• Experience in developing persuasive content for use across a range of communications channels.

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect.

It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant. Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application and our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage. Note, there are certain types of time-bound visas that we cannot accept.

Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert. Watch this video on how we remove bias in the recruitment process: Removing bias in the recruitment process - YouTube

Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.