Clerk Assistant

The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (‘Assembly Commission’) is committed to equality of opportunity in employment and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified applicants irrespective of religious belief, political opinion, race, age, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or people with dependants or without.

All applications for employment will be considered on the basis of merit.

Background

The Assembly Commission is a corporate body, established by section 40 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.  It provides the Assembly, or ensures that the Assembly is provided, with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly’s purposes. The Assembly Commission employs a Secretariat to serve the Assembly. The management structure of the Assembly Secretariat is illustrated on the Recruitment website.

Clerk Assistants manage and oversee the conduct of Assembly business, which is delivered through a number of procedural offices including the Bill Office, the Business Office and the Clerking and Member Support Office. 

The Bill Office supports the work of the Assembly in the management of legislation through its plenary and committee stages and is responsible for ensuring that the Acts, which finally emerge, fully reflect the deliberations and decisions taken by Assembly Members.  The Bill Office is also responsible for providing advice to Members on the admissibility of proposed amendments to Bills and for supporting the development of Members Bills. 

The Business Office supports the work of plenary sessions of the Assembly. The Business Office acts as the focus for procedural advice to the Speaker and Members on the conduct of Assembly business and is responsible for the production of Order Papers, proposed Amendments to motions, and the Minutes of Proceedings, which are the official legal record of the business of the Assembly.  The Business Office supports the Business Committee and processes Assembly questions and the laying of documents in compliance with Standing Orders and Speaker’s rulings.

The Clerking and Member Support Office (CAMS) has responsibility for supporting statutory and other Committees established by the Assembly.  The CAMS Office arranges and services committee meetings, events and visits, records committee proceedings, commissions research and advice, and drafts committee reports and speeches.  The CAMS Office also provides advice and guidance to Committee Chairpersons and Membersthroughthe Chairpersons’ Liaison Group, and is responsible for the implementation of the Member Development Strategy. In addition the CAMS Office provides the Secretariat to the Independent Financial Review Panel.

Each of these procedural offices is staffed by a number of clerking teams.

Location

The successful applicant will be based in Parliament Buildings, Belfast.

Completing the form

Only the information presented in the application form will be considered by the selection panel. CVs or other supplementary material will not be accepted in place of, or in addition to, completed application forms. Completed online forms must be submitted by 12 noon on Friday 13 March 2020.

You can access the application form here.

Application forms submitted after the closing time and date will not be accepted.

Stages of the Selection Process

There are five elements within the Recruitment and Selection Framework:

Experience – the knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it.

Ability – the aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard. 

Technical – the demonstration of specific professional skills, knowledge or qualifications.

Assembly Skills and Behaviours –the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job.

Strengths – the things we do regularly, do well and that motivate us. All elements will be assessed for this role and the selection methods that will be used are detailed below. Further information on the Recruitment and Selection Framework are included in the Guidance on Recruitment and Selection for Applicants.

Eligibility Sift

The essential criteria reflect the experience and knowledge that an applicant must possess in order to be able to undertake the role. An eligibility sift will be carried out on the basis of the information contained in the essential criteria section of the application form. You must therefore demonstrate clearly in your form how, and to what extent, you meet with the essential criteria for the post. 

Shortlisting

The selection panel reserve the right to use shortlisting as part of the selection process for this post. Should shortlisting be used, the shortlisting criterion listed in the Job Specification will be applied. The selection panel reserve the right to set a minimum standard for the shortlisting criterion which applicants must achieve in order to be invited to the interview stage of the selection process. If shortlisting is not necessary, all applicants who have demonstrated the essential criteria will proceed to the next stage of the selection process.  

Assessment Stage

As part of this stage of the selection process, applicants will be required to complete a written exercise, after which they will have to prepare and deliver a presentation. Applicants will be given a set period of time to prepare their response to the briefing exercise immediately in advance of their interview

Interview Stage

The interview will address the information contained in the Job Specification and will assess elements of the Recruitment and Selection Framework.

Interviews are planned for week commencing 27 April 2020

Further Interview Stage

The selection panel reserves the right to hold a further interview stage if deemed necessary.

Further information on the Recruitment and Selection process is available in the Recruitment and Selection Framework and Guidance on the Recruitment and Selection for Applicants.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

In line with the Equality Commission’s Positive Action for People who are Disabled guidance, the Assembly Secretariat operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS). The GIS has been developed for applicants with disabilities or those with a long term impairment or health condition, that is expected to last for at least 12 months and which means that they cannot meet all of the shortlisting criteria. In instances where tests will be used as a shortlisting tool, provided that the applicant has demonstrated in their application that they meet the essential criteria for the post and reach the minimum standard set for the test, the applicant will be offered a guaranteed interview.

Applicants with disabilities or a long term impairment, or health condition, who require reasonable adjustments to enable them to participate in any part of the selection process, should indicate this on their application. A member of the Human Resources Office will then contact the applicant to discuss.

Terms and Conditions of Appointment

This is a permanent appointment. The successful candidate will be an employee of the Assembly Commission.  All appointments are subject to the satisfactory completion of a six-month probationary period.

The standard working week is 37 hours, excluding meal breaks (42 hours gross).  Working hours will be dictated by the level of business and sitting times of the Assembly and will involve work into late evenings on sitting days and intermittently at weekends and on public holidays. 

In addition to the usual public and privilege holidays, there is an annual leave allowance of 25 days, increasing incrementally by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days Please be aware that a major influence in determining when leave can be taken will be the parliamentary timetable.

The successful applicant will be given suitable training, including formal specialised courses as necessary.

Details of our employee benefits are available on this website.

Equality Monitoring

Under Fair Employment legislation, we are required to monitor the community background and gender of those applying for jobs.  You must therefore complete the equal opportunities monitoring section of the application form when applying for the post.

Merit List

The merit list will remain “live” for 18 months from the date it is signed and may be used to fill any further permanent or fixed term opportunities for the same post.

Communication during the recruitment process

The Assembly Recruitment Team will issue most communication electronically.  You should therefore regularly check your email account to make sure you do not miss any important communication.  Please note, sometimes the Recruitment Team emails are automatically filtered as spam by email providers. 

Further Information

If you require more information on the recruitment process, please contact the Assembly Recruitment Team on 02890 520327.

Further information about the Assembly can be obtained on our website: www.niassembly.gov.uk

The ‘Information for Applicants’ does not constitute any term or condition of employment.