Ministry of Justice UK
Director General, Prisons
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Job Summary
The Director General for Prisons (DG Prisons) is an important leadership role responsible for the safe, secure and decent operation of the public sector prison estate in England and Wales, overseeing 105 public prison establishments, c.36,000 staff, and a high-risk operational system managing tens of thousands of people in custody. DG Prisons also provides operational oversight of the private prison estate and Youth Custody Service (YCS) Establishments.
This DG Prisons role provides the strategic and operational leadership required to deliver HMPPS’s core statutory duties and to ensure protection of the public. The role ensures the prison system maintains grip, resilience and performance against a backdrop of population pressures, long-term capital and infrastructure challenges, increasing operational complexity, and high levels of political and public scrutiny.
The postholder will work closely with the DG CEO for HMPPS and will be accountable for operational delivery, risk management, performance and assurance across the prison system – including maintaining security, improving safety and delivering rehabilitative regimes, so that the prison regime is equipped to effectively and safely carry out the orders of the Courts.
DG Prisons operates within the context of the wider justice system, and the post holder will need to provide system leadership, advocate for the position of prisons and shape cross-system reform and transformation.
As a member of the HMPPS Leadership Team, DG Prisons plays a critical role in shaping organisational strategy, driving cultural change, advising Ministers and Secretaries of State and ensuring prison operations are aligned with cross-system priorities including prison capacity management and sentencing reform.
Job Description
Current objectives and challenges for the role involve:
- Leading the delivery of safe, decent and lawful custody across all public sector prisons, ensuring the highest standards of security, safety and order.
- Maintaining and strengthening public protection through proactive risk management, incident response, and the management of high-risk cohorts of prisoners.
- Providing clear operational command in crisis situations and ensuring the organisation is resilient to critical risks including major incidents, disorder, escape risks and estate failures.
- Overseeing performance, assurance and operational improvement in prisons, ensuring consistent delivery across regions and establishments.
- Ensuring oversight of the women’s prison estate, ensuring safe, decent, gender informed provision is in place.
- Driving improvements to staff capability and safety, regimes, education, work and rehabilitative activity in prisons.
- Working closely with prison supply colleagues to ensure that the condition of the estate, capacity programmes, expansions, health and safety compliance support operational needs.
- Collaborating with senior leaders across MoJ eg: Policy, Finance, HR etc.
- Being accountable for c.36,000 staff across England and Wales that provide operational, leadership and strategy functions.
- Line management of 6 SCS2 Directors.
- Leading workforce and capability improvements for prisons, including recruitment, skills, leadership and retention.
- Working successfully with key stakeholders and partners across the Criminal Justice Sector (CJS)
- Providing visible leadership across the prison estate, supporting Governors, Prison Group Directors and the frontline, and providing operational input and support to contractually managed prisons and the YCS.
- Shaping and contributing to MoJ and cross-Government strategy, ensuring prisons’ needs are represented in departmental, Ministerial and CJS strategy.
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Please see attached candidate brief for more details.
Person Specification
To succeed in this role, you will be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria:
- Excellent senior operational leadership skills with the ability to set a compelling leadership vision and to inspire staff, building engagement and capability to deliver results.
- The proven ability to work in a high-profile and fast-paced environment across organisational boundaries, managing complex stakeholder interests and political landscapes.
- Extensive experience in an operational environment and deep understanding of the prison estate or equivalent custodial environments.
- Ability to lead large, dispersed, operational services under pressure.
- Strong crisis leadership and decision-making capability, with the ability to make sound judgements.
- Demonstrate experience as a credible operational leader to a frontline service as well as to senior government officials and Ministers.
- Skilled in partnership working across justice, policing, health and local government with the ability to collaborate, and develop and maintain effective relationships with the most senior internal and external stakeholders.
- Proven ability to lead cultural and organisational change.
- Deep understanding of operational risk, security, assurance, financial and workforce management.
Alongside your salary of £170,000, Ministry of Justice contributes £49,249 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Learning and development tailored to your role An environment with flexible working options A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection Process Details
To apply, please complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. If you are unable to apply online please submit your application to kerrie.bryce@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
Either way, please send the following information by no later than 23:55 29 July.
- Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history, and details where possible of budgets and numbers of people.
- A short covering statement of no more than two A4 sized pages (1000 words) explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘Person Specification’ section on page 6.
- A diversity monitoring form. All applicants are invited to complete this information to assist the Civil Service with monitoring its recruitment process. All data is reported in an anonymous and aggregate format and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application.
- A declaration of interest form.
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We expect the process for this role to be as follows, however some timings may be subject to change:
- The closing date for applications will be 23:55 on 29 July
- A shortlist of the applications will take place during w/c 3 August
- Shortlisted candidates will then:
- Participate in a staff engagement panel with a selection of people from across HMPPS
- Meet with key stakeholders, potentially including a senior Minister or leader from HMPPS
- Inputs from all of those steps will then form the basis of a panel interview, chaired by Paul Kernaghan from the Civil Service Commission during w/c 24 August and w/c 7 September.
Other panel members at the interview will include but may not be limited to: James McEwen, CEO HMPPS, Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary DfE and Nick Campsie, HMPPS Non-Executive Director and Chair of the HMPPS Agency Board.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality Requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
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