Enforcement Officer - Access & Benefit Sharing (Apprenticeship)
About OPSS
Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!
We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business & Trade. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action.Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.
Since early 2018 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow.
Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence
Further information can be found on our website here.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills.There is a guaranteed interview scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We are Inclusive
We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation if required to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.Please contact us to request accommodation.
Product Safety and Regulations (PSR) Team
Our team is at the forefront of enforcing a wide range of product, environmental, and energy efficiency regulations across various sectors. We strive to protect people and the environment by ensuring consumer and environmental protection. By adopting a risk-based and proportionate approach, we create a regulatory environment where businesses can confidently invest and grow.We align with the Regulators’ Code and continuously enhance our regulatory capabilities, working methods, and staff expertise.
About the Access and Benefit Sharing Team
The Team sits within the wider PSR team and we lead the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing within the UK. The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement that aims to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources.It provides a legal framework to enhance legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources. Our mission is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use biodiversity by designing and delivering programmes that raise awareness and ensure compliance in relevant sectors.
The Role and Personal Impact
As an Enforcement Officer in the Access and Benefit Sharing team you will play a crucial role in ensuring the compliance of relevant sectors and support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity through designing and delivering a programme of activity designed to raise understanding across UK businesses. You will:
- Take the lead on your own enforcement investigations and progress non-compliances to an appropriate outcome, which includes applying a range of administrative, civil and criminal sanctions.
- Create, maintain, and manage communication with businesses, life science trade bodies, and research organisations to deliver clear, supportive, and effective advice.
- Undertake project work which will adequately address risk and justify intervention choices, as well as delivering proportionality in investigations.
- Directly support business compliance by addressing enquiries in a comprehensive manner and providing advice and guidance through a range of mediums to increase business confidence.
- Develop specialist knowledge in your regulatory area to help provide the national enforcement perspective to OPSS colleagues, policy sponsors, and other partner agencies.
- Review market information, technical files, and other documentation across a range of legislation, handling material to the evidential standard in accordance with the Regulators’ Code and OPSS’ Enforcement Policy.
- Actively build and maintain relationships across teams within Enforcement and across the office to identify opportunities to add value to your work.
- Actively develop yourself as a regulator and enforcement officer; with your team, identify and explore innovative ways to increase our regulatory capability and positive impact, and develop OPSS as an exemplar regulator.
Your work will support businesses in understanding and complying with regulations, fostering a fair and competitive market. By joining our team, you will be part of a dedicated group of professionals committed to making a positive impact on society.
The apprenticeship
Alongside this role, you will be required to undertake the Level 4 - Regulatory Compliance Officer apprenticeship. More details on the apprenticeship can be found here: Regulatory compliance officer / Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education
To be eligible to apply for the apprenticeship, applicants must:
- Be aged 16 or older
- Not be in full-time education
- Not be in receipt of funding for other learning programmes (such as another apprenticeship or a degree for which you have a student loan).
- Not be in receipt of funding for other learning programmes (such as another apprenticeship or a degree for which you have a student loan).
- Have been continuously resident in the UK/EEA for 3+ years or have an eligible residency status (see Annex A page 80 of ‘The latest rules (2021 to 2022) - Employers; for information) This can be found on Gov.uk Apprenticeship funding rules: [...]