Strategy Manager: Business and Performance Management

Transcription

1 Job Title: Strategy Manager: Business and Performance Management Job Grade: Band 7 Directorate: Job Reference Number: Schools, Children and Families P00905 The Role Deputise for the Head of Early Years and Childcare as necessary; As part of the senior management team within the Early Years and Childcare area, support the Head of Early Years and Childcare with strategic planning and service development and contribute to overall priority setting for budgets and resources; Job Purpose Procurement and contract management: Support fellow managers through leading an appropriate internal and external procurement and contracts strategy to support the delivery of relevant targets within a commissioning environment and provide robust contract and financial management in relation to all payments made across the service including grants processes. Performance and Data Management: Lead a performance monitoring strategy based on the provision of appropriate IT services, and the analysis of high quality data for Early Years and Childcare including partners, workforce development, quality and closing the gap in support of the delivery of a coherent framework and the provision of evidence of impact and value for children and families who receive Early Years and Childcare services. Business Development and Sustainability: Ensure the continuity of quality childcare and parental choice through capacity building with regard to business functions within early years and childcare settings and Children s Centres, including ensuring provision of external funding support, and a business advisory service and training programme for relevant external providers and all front facing development staff. Communications: Lead for Early Years and Childcare a coherent communications strategy including the promotion of the service and the services and activities for which

2 it is responsible and ensuring the provision of the Family Information Service to meet national standards. Key Accountabilities Set the budget priorities and oversee expenditure in relation to area of responsibility so as to achieve agreed objectives; Line manage, providing direction, performance management review and professional development support for relevant directly managed staff and provide mentoring and professional guidance for other relevant staff in the relevant areas of work including use of central systems and record keeping; Contribute towards building and sustaining effective partnerships through the Children s Trust Approach with and between partner agencies also providing services to children, including the private, voluntary and community sectors, in order to focus resources jointly on improving outcomes for children and young people, which must include safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Reporting to the Head of Early Years and Childcare, propose and lead decision making with regard to the key responsibilities of the post; Report regularly to DCSF and other relevant national partners, the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and the Children s Trust and contribute to relevant monitoring for the Children and Young People s Plan, the LAA and other reports as appropriate; Undertake any other relevant duties in line with the grading for the post as may be reasonably required in the future. Procurement and contract management: Support fellow managers through leading an appropriate internal and external procurement and contracts strategy to support the delivery of relevant targets within a commissioning environment and provide robust contract and financial management in relation to all payments made across the service including grants processes Lead a process for the disbursement of EYCS grants through the delegated powers of the EYDCP, and ensure effective monitoring of impact on the 5 outcomes for children and other indicators as appropriate Working with procurement and legal services colleagues, provide early years and childcare and business expertise in relation to risk assessment of all proposed agreements and advise on how to reduce risk;

3 Contribute towards building and sustaining effective partnerships through the Children s Trust Approach with and between partner agencies and ensure the spirit of agreement in partnership and community contexts is based on mutual benefit and not adversarial Advise and support key managers with regard to robust business practice and processes and in developing and overseeing the performance management of all contracts to ensure best value and the achievement of contract objectives, reporting regularly on trends and performance to the Principal and to other managers as appropriate Performance and Data Management: Lead a performance monitoring strategy based on the provision of appropriate IT services, and the analysis of high quality data for Early Years and Childcare including partners, workforce development, quality and closing the gap in support of the delivery of a coherent framework and the provision of evidence of impact and value for children and families who receive Early Years and Childcare services. Lead and manage the interface on the provision of IT systems to support the existing and anticipated needs of Early Years and Childcare ensuring a suitable fit and compliance with the overarching ECC IS strategy. Ensure appropriate record keeping, reporting and audit material as necessary to external funding sources and partners; Together with the Head of Early Years and Childcare and the Strategy Manager Commissioning, lead and implement a strategy to develop consultation mechanisms and ensure establishing of processes for participation and consultation with parents, children and young people; track customer satisfaction and impact including outcomes for children, within early years, childcare and extended services, and ensuring consistency over time Provide feedback where required to delivery partners such as early years and childcare providers, children s centres and extended schools, in interpreting the monitoring and evaluation of their services, and proposing actions Ensure that performance management and monitoring within Early Years and Childcare (and its delivery partners) are consistent with, draw upon and contribute to the overall self assessment and monitoring functions of the local authority, responding appropriately to relevant government requirements including the Annual Performance Assessment of children s services and the Children and Young People s Plan Develop and manage a responsive monitoring framework to yield high quality data, leading to the production of regularly updated targets in relation to the childcare

4 needs of communities, to underpin the statutory duty to ensure sufficiency and to manage the market including in the context of extended services Business Development and Sustainability: Ensure the continuity of quality childcare and parental choice through capacity building with regard to business functions within early years and childcare settings and Children s Centres, including ensuring provision of external funding support, and a business advisory service and training programme for relevant external providers and all front facing development staff. Lead an overall business strategy for the Early Years and Childcare Service ensuring managers are supported and in particular support the Head of Service in relation to ensuring a sound business case for the allocation of resources and sustainability of services (including children s centres) within the overall business objectives of the County Council; Scope and develop the involvement of employers in the childcare strategy of the County Council; Working closely with the external funding functions of the County Council, scope and facilitate access, for the service and for the sector, to external sources of local, regional, national and international funding and providing strategic market intelligence upon which the allocation of resources can be determined;, Ensure the Identification on a continuing basis of the business-related training and development needs of early years and childcare settings (private, voluntary and maintained sectors), which may prevent them from running their organisations effectively and efficiently and identify solutions; Ensure a programme of business support training; development and mentoring for early years and childcare providers and relevant partners such as children s centres; Communications: Lead for Early Years and Childcare a coherent communications strategy including the promotion of the service and the services and activities for which it is responsible and ensuring the provision of the Family Information Service to meet national standards Ensure the delivery of the Family Information Service function ensuring early years and childcare expertise is maintained and the outreach strategy is coherent with children s centres development, Ensure the delivery of a marketing strategy and customer liaison activities such as: producing newsletters and maintaining the early years and childcare web pages of the Essex County Council website etc for Early Years and Childcare services, the

5 Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and relevant partners including Children s Centres; Ensure the production and dissemination of regular information about all relevant services and functions, including through the Essex County Council website and other means as appropriate in line with Essex County Council standards and protocols Ensure all relevant activities are commensurate with and enhance SCF and ECC Corporate requirements and support and promote consistent messages and branding at all times Knowledge, Skills and Experience Degree or similar qualification in business management; Relevant IT skills including sufficient understanding of IT systems capacity requirements to procure appropriately Knowledge and experience of working in a business management role, demonstrating sound overview of business management skills including experience of business planning, basic financial management, cash flow forecasting and basic marketing planning; Sound knowledge and understanding of the issues facing the small-business owner/manager; Experience of partnership working with diverse organisations. Experience and understanding of the voluntary sector Understanding of the difficulties experienced by some organisations in dopting business practices; Cross-sector experience of early years and childcare; Counselling, coaching and/or training experience; Hands-on experience of umbrella funding mechanisms and those applicable for individual organisations and partnerships. Non-specialist research skills, e.g. identifying and classifying training/mentoring support available; Understanding of external funding organisations and bidding processes Understanding of communications requirements of organisations and of methods of delivery.

6 Values and Behaviours Passionate about achieving results Sets challenging but achievable targets Demands high performance of self and colleagues, working positively and effectively Responsive to customer s needs Works collaboratively and builds relationships with customers to establish the key issues and anticipate requirements Develops methods of empowering customers to enable choice and influence service improvements Inspirational and bold in thinking and solutions Identifies, leads and manages change which furthers the long-term goals and vision of the Council Supportive of others input and perspectives working as one Identifies and develops cross-functional working and long-term partnerships to enable the Council to meet its goals Supports others to work together to develop solutions, avoiding blaming others when things go wrong Motivating others and trusting them to deliver Models and promotes an open, supportive culture walks the talk Empowers others through coaching or development activities Safeguarding Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Pre-Employment Checks appropriate to this Job Profile Essex County Council (ECC) is committed to ensuring all recruitment is undertaken fairly, effectively, safely and in accordance with legislation. The information below provides pre-employment screening guidance for candidates applying to this job at Essex County Council. Role Requirement:

7 Not working with children or vulnerable adults and with no access to sensitive information relating to children or vulnerable adults Pre-Employment Check References Definition A minimum of two employer references will be requiredone of which must be the last employer. Any gaps of 4 weeks or more will be explored by the manager at interview stage. Where appropriate additional character references will be taken up Medical Eligibility / Right to work in the UK Regulatory qualifications and professional registration (subject to role) Self Declaration (Spent and unspent convictions) CRB Enhanced Level (renewed every three years) All new recruits and employees whose role changes significantly are required to complete a medical health questionnaire Proof is required and original documentation will be sought i.e. passport or full birth certificate Original qualification certificates and proof of registration with a professional body are required (if applicable) A declaration of spent and unspent convictions must be completed by employees who work with vulnerable adults or children The CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check will be sought by ECC before a start date is agreed