JOB SUMMARY – Executive Officer NES Digital Service NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a Special Health Board whose mission is to contribute to the highest quality of healthcare throughout NHS Scotland by promoting best practice in the education and life-long learning of all staff. The function of the NES Digital Service Group (NDS) is to deliver one of the key objectives of the recent Scottish Government’s Digital Health and Care Strategy. The Strategy called for a Scottish ‘national digital platform’ through which relevant real -time data and information from health and care records will be made available to those who need it, when they need it, and wherever they are, in a secure and safe way. These responsibilities relate to the core functions of NES in the following areas: • Development of a new, digital by default, technical environment and commensurate digital services to all NHSScotland stakeholders • Support and development of fit for purpose, digital platform systems and services to allow delivery of strategic outcomes • Communication, support and leadership in digital and data science disciplines • Research and development as appropriate 1. Organisation Chart
Transcript
JOB SUMMARY – Executive Officer
NES Digital Service
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a Special Health Board whose mission is to contribute to the
highest quality of healthcare throughout NHS Scotland by promoting best practice in the education
and life-long learning of all staff.
The function of the NES Digital Service Group (NDS) is to deliver one of the key objectives of the
recent Scottish Government’s Digital Health and Care Strategy. The Strategy called for a Scottish
‘national digital platform’ through which relevant real-time data and information from health and
care records will be made available to those who need it, when they need it, and wherever they are,
in a secure and safe way.
These responsibilities relate to the core functions of NES in the following areas:
• Development of a new, digital by default, technical environment and commensurate digital
services to all NHSScotland stakeholders
• Support and development of fit for purpose, digital platform systems and services to allow
delivery of strategic outcomes
• Communication, support and leadership in digital and data science disciplines
NDS has been established to deliver the national digital platform for health and social care in
Scotland. The NDS portfolio will include a range of projects and services and our operating model
will be a lean core team with predominant resourcing directed at project delivery. Our core team
will include only 2 administrative posts; an Associate Manager and an Executive Officer. The
Executive Officer will provide high level administrative support to the NDS Director and other senior
members of the team along with full and comprehensive executive officer support to facilitate the
efficient operation of their group. The post will protect leadership time for our Director, ensure
engagement with other senior NES posts and support efficient partnership working.
3. Key Tasks
These will include but will not be limited to:
• Responsible for assisting in the prioritising of the incoming workload of the
Director and their direct reports. Proactively managing and auctioning a broad
range of complex enquiries; including delegation/allocation of work and ensuring
follow up action is taken e.g. keeping track of daily actions and priorities, pre-
empting needs and deadlines.
• Co-ordinate meetings (of both national and international calibre) and facilitate and
maintain all aspects of diary management for the Director and other senior
members of the team : including negotiating often challenging/conflicting
commitments and making judgements, within broad guidelines, on their behalf.
• Provide all administrative needs for their activities including preparing agendas,
briefings, programmes, detailed papers, reports and manuscripts for publication
etc. Support the delivery of a range of administrative services, systems and
processes including new premises occupation and establishment
• Responsible for planning, organising and, as required, attending meetings,
conferences, workshops and events which can include identifying requirements,
arranging venues, speakers and programmes.
• Attend and service a range of departmental meetings, including collation and
dissemination of paperwork, and taking minutes
• Co-ordinate national and international travel and accommodation arrangements
and facilitate expense claims as required
• Manage and Communicate complex, confidential and sensitive information with a
range of staff across the organisation and external stakeholders. This will involve
a high degree of verbal and written communication skills (eg daily exposure to
sensitive, complex and confidential information; communication with external and
internal stakeholders ie the Scottish Government, Health Boards, Universities etc
• Provide project management support, planning and organising a variety of tasks,
including involvement in multiple projects and programmes of work eg
supporting management methodology when planning high profile events and in
the organisational support to regional office moves.
• Be responsible for maintaining the NDS records system, electronically and
manually.
• Collaborative working with other Executive Officers, sharing information and
expertise, to provide relief cross cover for the Chair, Chief Executive and their
direct reports as required, ensuring continuity of support.
• Respond to telephone, email and personal enquires / correspondence from staff,
students and external bodies.
• Day-to-day supervision/management of staff where required.
NES Harmonised Job Description designed by HR in Partnership – Final V0.1 1
Band 5 Executive Officer
1. JOB IDENTIFICATION
Job Title: Executive Officer - NES Digital Service Department(s): NES Digital Service Directorate: NES Digital Service Job Reference: Responsible to (insert job title): Director - NES Digital Service * Operating Division
2. JOB PURPOSE
The purpose of this role is to ensure the efficient and effective working of corporate business by providing a full and effective executive support to the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports, which will enable the senior management of NES to function and perform to a high standard. The postholder will have comprehensive, specialised business support knowledge. They are able to use their experience to solve problems creatively, make judgements which require analysis and interpretation, and actively contribute to service and self-development.
3. DIMENSIONS
The post holder is responsible for providing a comprehensive executive support service to the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports. They will be required to deal with rapidly changing situations and to work autonomously. The postholder may have line management responsibilities. The postholder will be required to assist in any other duties which are deemed reasonable to their role and band.
4. ORGANISATIONAL POSITION
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5. ROLE OF DEPARTMENT
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a Special Health Board whose mission is to contribute to the highest quality of healthcare throughout NHS Scotland by promoting best practice in the education and life-long learning of all staff The function of the NES Digital Service Group is to deliver one of the key objectives of the Scottish Government’s recent Digital Health and Care Strategy. The Strategy called for a Scottish ‘national digital platform’ through which relevant real-time data and information from health and care records will be made available to those who need it, when they need it, and wherever they are, in a secure and safe way.
6. KEY RESULT AREAS (Key Result Areas convey all potential aspects of a job role. Key result areas will be further developed within the KSF outline with some being more relevant than others dependant on the current requirements for your role.)
• Responsible for assisting in the prioritising of the incoming workload of the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports. Proactively managing and actioning a broad range of complex enquiries; including delegation/ allocation of work and ensuring follow up action is taken, e.g. keeping track of daily actions and priorities for the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports, pre-empting their needs and deadlines.
• Communicating complex, confidential and sensitive information with a range of staff across the organisation and with external stakeholders. This will involve a high degree of verbal and written communication skills. (e.g. daily exposure to
NES Harmonised Job Description designed by HR in Partnership – Final V0.1 3
sensitive, complex and confidential information; communication with external and internal stakeholders i.e. the Scottish Government and Universities; information is often sensitive and not in the public domain e.g. training intake numbers, budget allocations and staffing/HR issues; the EA is responsible for disseminating the information to colleagues/staff appropriately.)
• Draft, collate and research information that is essential to the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports such as preparation of agendas, briefings, organisational communications, reports, conference programmes and materials.
• Responsible for managing the day-to-day appointments of the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports; negotiating often challenging/conflicting commitments and making judgements, within broad guidelines, on their behalf.
• Project management support, planning and organising a variety of tasks, including involvement in multiple projects and programmes of work, e.g. supporting organisational initiatives such as the roll-out of Alfresco; implementing project management methodology when planning high profile events and in the organisational support to regional office moves.
• Creation, development and regular review of the policies, procedures and practices operating within the Directorate with the aim of improving efficiency and effectiveness, e.g. familiarity with corporate polices to provide advice and support to colleagues; streamline operational procedures i.e. diary management and electronic filing.
• Provide business support to Directorate meetings, as required, including identifying suitable dates, venues, equipment; issue of agenda/papers; attendance at meetings; production of formal minutes/action notes.
• Responsible for planning, organising and, as required, attending conferences, workshops and events which can include identifying requirements, arranging venues, speakers and programmes.
• Support colleagues in the Directorates/teams and across the organisation, sharing information and expertise, where appropriate, and offering advice and support, e.g. acting as a central point of contact for the Directorate.
• Collaboratively working with other Executive Officers, sharing information and expertise, to provide relief cross cover for the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports as required, ensuring continuity of support.
• Responsible for compiling/verifying expenses claims for the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports. Sign-off of annual leave sheets and timesheets for Directorate and agency staff.
• Ensure that data capture, storage and use comply with current information governance standards, e.g. assessing information and making sure it is appropriately protected.
• Use of IT packages to prepare a range of correspondence, papers and PowerPoint presentations to the highest level of accuracy.
• Day-to-day supervision/management of a team of staff, where required. This may include work allocation, sharing information, offering advice and support, recruitment and selection of staff, managing absences, undertaking job development reviews, setting objectives and discussing personal developments plans.
7a. EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY
• A range of office, audio-visual and IT equipment
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• Utilisation of current data and information systems relevant to role currently in use
throughout the NES organisation.
• Regular use of complete MS Office suite of programmes
• Use IT as directed, maintaining confidentiality.
8. ASSIGNMENT AND REVIEW OF WORK
• The post holder is required to work autonomously with work being managed rather than supervised. Work will be delegated on a routine basis by the Chair, Chief Executive and Direct Reports. The post holder will exercise discretion in prioritising, planning and organising own workload to a successful outcome.
• The post holder is expected to be self motivated, self starting and capable of acting on their own initiative in exploring priorities, communicating with stakeholders, as required, and deciding when it is necessary to refer to line management.
• Support is provided through regular meetings with the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports to discuss work issues.
• Line management support is provided through regular meetings. A formal appraisal and personal development plan is agreed annually, with input as appropriate by other senior staff that the postholder will be working with. Annual objectives are agreed and the postholder is responsible for ensuring delivery of these objectives. There will also be ad-hoc meetings with the line manager to discuss issues as they arise.
• The postholder may delegate work to colleagues, supervising the work that they do.
9. DECISIONS AND JUDGEMENTS
• The postholder is required to demonstrate strong decision making abilities and analytical skills in a range of complex situations, where judgements may need to be taken in a variety of situations, e.g. the Chair, Chief Executive and their Direct Reports are not always available; the EA takes the initiative to action and deal with enquiries e.g. parliamentary questions, consultations or complaints and see these through to completion.
• There is a requirement to develop, implement and manage internal systems, policies and procedures to ensure these are organised effectively for all functions to enable the smooth running of the department and minimise risk.
• Participate in various steering and working groups to contribute towards the
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development of relevant policy and service improvement. This will involve working with operational departments to participate in pilot groups e.g. super users (IM&T, Properties and Facilities), Productive Leader Cohort and Alfresco.
10. MOST CHALLENGING/DIFFICULT PARTS OF THE JOB
• The most challenging part of the post holder’s role is the ability to prioritise conflicting tasks with competing deadlines in a rapidly changing environment.
• To understand the role, responsibilities and challenges of the organisation and to contribute effectively to the performance of the Directorate.
• The post holder is required to demonstrate analytical and judgement skills when acting on behalf of the Chair, Chief Executive or their Direct Reports, for example when responding to correspondence. This includes delegation of work to peers and responding to requests for complex information, e.g. co-ordinating responses to parliamentary questions.
• Implementation of best practice in own work area frequently reviewing what this practice is and, when faced with new challenges, determining new practices. The post holder is required to be influential in proposing changes to working practices in other areas.
• Resolve complex problems and queries working with a diverse range of people from different locations and organisations, e.g. maintaining a professional manner when dealing with difficult situations (complaints).
11. COMMUNICATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS
• The post holder is required to provide and receive complex, highly confidential and sensitive information where persuasive, motivational and negotiation skills are required. This would include change management, organisation change, HR issues and complaints.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively (both verbally and in writing) with a broad range of staff at all levels up to and including The Chief Executive and The Executive Team, The Chair and Board Members. Communication with outside agencies is essential for the efficient and effective conduct of the post.
• Draft information, reports, and papers. Research and prepare complex information
for presentation at internal and external meetings, conferences and seminars
involving a range of audiences.
• Work with others towards achieving shared goals and being open to the opinions of
others, receiving and giving constructive feedback.
• Use skill and judgement to pro-actively prioritise, delegate and carry out actions, often in the absence of the Chair, Chief Executive or their Direct Reports.
• Interpersonal skills are essential particularly when dealing with challenging and complex situations.
• A keen eye for detail, accuracy and an ability to see a task through to completion are required.
• Develop, monitor and maintain administrative processes for consistency throughout the Directorate.
• Foster and develop relationships across Directorates and develop joint working
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where possible.
• Understand your rights and responsibilities in the workplace including promoting
equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and maintaining confidentiality, raising
concerns relating to service provision with more senior staff.
12. PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL & ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS OF THE JOB
Physical skills
• Advanced keyboard/VDU use on a daily basis plus regular requirement to use computer software to develop and create reports.
Physical effort
• Occasional light physical effort - occasional light lifting of files and equipment such as laptops and projectors.
Mental effort
• Occasional requirement for prolonged concentration when developing reports/plans/business case and briefing papers.
• Unpredictable workload often results in the postholder having to switch tasks to deal with urgent queries from staff, other departments and outside bodies. These can sometimes compete with regular deadlines, so therefore postholder may frequently be required to reassess priorities.
Emotional effort
• Constantly working under pressure to meet deadlines and manage workload due to nature of workload.
• With some line management responsibility there are often difficult communication issues, where firmness or empathy is required as well as mediation skills, e.g. discipline, illness, bereavement and poor performance.
• Dealing with staff at all levels in an appropriate way.
Working Conditions
• Continuous VDU use.
13. KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO DO THE JOB
• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience
• Demonstrable experience of providing high level administrative business support to Senior/Executive Management
• High level of written and verbal communication skills and good numeracy skills eg report writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to operate high degrees of discretion, tact and diplomacy at all times
• Ability to work under pressure to achieve objectives and deliver within tight deadlines
• Advanced accurate typing skills
• Time management skills
• Organisational and planning skills
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• Ability to prioritise workload
• Well developed interpersonal skills
• Advanced level of IT skills, including extensive experience of using Microsoft Access, Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Negotiating and influencing skills
• Experience of maintaining computerised records and of producing reports and statistics
• Previous public sector/ healthcare experience
14. JOB DESCRIPTION AGREEMENT
A separate job description will need to be signed off by each jobholder
to whom the job description applies.
Job Holder’s Signature: Head of Department Signature:
Date: Date:
Essential Criteria – these are attributes without which a candidate would not be able to undertake the full remit of the role.
Applicants who do not clearly demonstrate in their application that they possess the essential requirements will normally be
eliminated at the short listing stage.
Desirable Criteria – these are attributes which would be useful for the candidate to hold. When short listing, these criteria
will be considered when more than one applicant meets the essential criteria.
Means of Assessment – please note that candidates invited for interview will be notified if there will be a requirement to
undertake a test or presentation. These additional assessments may be used to judge one or more criteria within the
factor.
BAND 5 Executive Officer
Essential Criteria – these are attributes without which a candidate would not be able to undertake the full remit of the role.
Applicants who do not clearly demonstrate in their application that they possess the essential requirements will normally be
eliminated at the short listing stage.
Desirable Criteria – these are attributes which would be useful for the candidate to hold. When short listing, these criteria
will be considered when more than one applicant meets the essential criteria.
Means of Assessment – please note that candidates invited for interview will be notified if there will be a requirement to
undertake a test or presentation. These additional assessments may be used to judge one or more criteria within the
factor.
Factors Essential Means of
Assessment
Key Leadership
Bahaviours • Adaptive
• Collaborative
• Engaged and Engaging
Application &
Interview
Education and
Professional
Qualifications
• Educated to Degree Level or
Equivalent Experience
Application &
Pre-
Employment
checks
Experience/Training
(including research if
appropriate)
• Demonstrable experience of
providing high level administrative
support to Senior Management
• Experience of communicating with
stakeholders and audiences at
every level.
• Experience of managing complex
issues at a corporate level
• Experience of proactively managing
and actioning a broad range of
complex enquiries; including
delegation/ allocation of work and
ensuring follow up action is taken
Application &
Interview
Specific Skills and
Knowledge • Advanced level of IT skills, including
extensive experience of using
Microsoft Office Packages
• Proven administrative skills,
including diary management;
dealing with correspondence;
arranging travel, preparation of
meeting papers
• Effective minute taking skills
• Ability to work on own initiative
Application &
Interview
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
• Ability to organise and prioritise
workload to meet strict deadlines
• Awareness of Data Protection
legislation and appreciation of the
need for discretion and
confidentiality in the workplace
• Excellent communication skills to
communicate clearly, effectively
and confidently at all levels in the
workplace
• Good attention to detail
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
TITLE
Executive Officer - NDS
LOCATION: Edinburgh (Bayes
Centre)
REPORTING TO:
Director - NDS
GRADE:
Agenda for Change Band 5 SALARY SCALE: £23, 113 to £29, 905
per annum
HOURS AND DAYS
OF WORK: Full Time. Based on a normal working week of 37.5 hours. Office opening hours are
0700 to 1900.
JOB STATUS: Permanent
NOTICE PERIOD: 4 weeks
ANNUAL
HOLIDAYS: 27 days rising to 29 days after 5
years service, rising to 33 days after
10 years service
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS:
8 local/ Public
Holidays per annum
pro rata
REHABILITATION
OF OFFENDERS
CLASSIFICATION:
The ‘exemption’ status of posts within NES may change in the future and all successful candidates should be aware that they may be asked to obtain a further
Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau at a later date, should a post’s status change, or if they are transferred or promoted into a post that is exempt.
SUPERANNUATION:
Please note under changes to workplace pension arrangements introduced by the UK Government,
NHS Education for Scotland along with other employers requires to ensure all staff are automatically
enrolled in a pension scheme. Consequently, all new starts from 1 October 2013 will be
automatically enrolled into the NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland). Contributions are based on
whole time pensionable earnings as set out in the table below:-
Sessional workers who work more than 10 sessions per week under NHS condition may be unable to
contribute further to the superannuation scheme.
The conditions above are for information purposes only and may be subject to variation. They do
not form the basis of a legal contract.
Employee contribution rates in 2018/2019
Tier Annual Pensionable Pay (Full Time Equivalent) Contribution
1 Up to £16,928 5.2%
2 £16,929 to £22, 439 5.8 %
3 £22, 440 to £27,910 7.3%
4 £27,911 to £51, 481 9.5%
5 £51, 482 to £73, 498 12.7%
6 £73, 499 to £114, 760 13.7%
7 £114, 761 and above 14.7%
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
Online Application Guidance
General Guidance
• No applicant will be unfairly discriminated against. We are particularly alert to
eliminating discrimination on account of age, cultural/religious/political belief, disability,
ethnicity, gender, race, relationship status, sexual orientation, and/or Trade Union
membership or stewardship.
You will be asked to complete the following sections:
o Section 1: Personal Details
o Section 2: Qualifications and Memberships
o Section 3: Career History
o Section 4: Statement in Support of Application
o Section 5: References
o Section 6: Disability
o Section 7: Application Declarations
o Section 8: Equal Opportunities Monitoring
• Only Sections 2, 3 & 4 of this online form will be made available to short-listing panels.
Sections 1 to 4 (inclusive) would then be used by the interviewing panel if you are
selected for interview. Sections 5 to 8 will be viewed only by the HR department.
• Required questions are denoted with an asterisk (*). When you have answered the
questions on a page, click the Save and continue button to continue to the next section.
You can navigate to a previous section by clicking the Back button at the top of the
page.
• If you wish to complete the application form later, click the Save and finish later button.
It will be saved as a draft application in your Candidate Portal.
• You can retrieve saved draft forms by logging in to the Candidate Portal, selecting
Dashboard from the Candidate Zone drop down menu, and then selecting Applications.
• You will have an opportunity to review and edit all sections of your application form at
the end under the 'Review' Section. Click on Send my application to complete the
process and submit your form.
• PLEASE NOTE: You will be unable to edit an application form once it has been
• All our communications will be sent to you via email - please ensure you provide an accurate email
address which you will have regular access to throughout the recruitment process. Applicants
should regularly check Junk/SPAM folders to ensure key communications aren’t missed. Similarly, applicants using NHS.net email accounts have reported difficulties receiving communications, with
emails hitting their local firewall. Please contact your local IT if this is the case, or you may wish to
consider using an alternative email address.
• Working in the UK – It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the right to work in the UK.
This will be verified as part of our pre employment checks.
Section 2: Qualifications and Professional Membership
• Please tell us about any qualifications you have or are working towards. This can include school,
college or university qualifications, or work based qualifications such as SVQs or NVQs.
• Remember to include any ‘non formal’ qualifications or certificates that you think are relevant to
the job you are applying for.
• If the post requires you to be professionally registered, please provide details of your Professional
Membership e.g. GMC, NMC, GDC etc.
Section 3: Career History
• Please tell us about your present or most recent post. This can include any voluntary work. If you
have not yet worked please state this in the Job Title and Employer fields.
• Please tell us briefly about your duties (what you do or did in your job). You could tell us your role,
the main tasks, and any responsibility for supervising others.
• There is a 4000-character limit (including spaces) for this question.
If you would like to paste your response from an external document please use a keyboard
shortcut: CTRL+V for Windows users, Apple+V for Mac users.
• Please then tell us about any previous employment. If a job supports the position applied for,
please say more about it in your Application Support statement.
Section 4: Statement in Support of Application
• Please tell us your personal qualities, skills and attributes, experience and any major achievements
and show how they match those needed for this job. Please refer to the Person Specification
(within the Job Information Pack) when completing your statement.
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CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
• There is a 4000 character limit (including spaces) for this question.
If you would like to paste your response from an external document please use a keyboard
shortcut: CTRL+V for Windows users, Apple+V for Mac users.
• Please try to remember where you heard about this job, and select the relevant option. The
information you give will help us review our vacancy advertising.
Section 5: References
• As part of pre-employment checks, if you are the preferred candidate(s) you will be asked to
provide details of at least two referees, verifying a minimum of 3 years previous employment, one
of which must be your current or most recent employer.
• Our pre-employment screening also includes, where appropriate, ID and right to work in the UK,
qualifications, criminal convictions and occupational health.
Section 6: Disability
• The Equality Act 2010 defines disability as:
A physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on
a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
• NHS Education for Scotland is a Disability Confident Employer and has made a positive
commitment to the employment and retention of disabled people. In addition, we operate a
Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS), which means that if you have a disability, and meet the
minimum criteria outlined within the Person Specification, you will be guaranteed an interview.
• Please let us know if you are a disabled candidate and would like to be considered under the
GIS scheme. Please also let us know if you require any requirements you would have to enable
you attend for interview or undertake a test/presentation.
• Please Note: this section will not be viewed by the selection panel. However, HR will use
the information provided to enable us to operate the GIS and arrange reasonable
adjustments.
SeDeclarations
Section 7: Declarations
• 'Reserve candidates' may be identified by the panel where a candidate is
considered 'appointable' but not the successful candidate on this occasion.
• Please indicate if you agree to your application form being shared with NES hiring
managers for similar vacancies in the future.
Page 4 of 4
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
• If you are offered employment, you must disclose any previous convictions either
classed as 'spent' or 'unspent'. Any failure to disclose such convictions could result in
dismissal or disciplinary action.
• Any information you give will be considered only in relation to the post for which this
application form refers. Information will be verified by Disclosure Scotland for relevant
posts.
• Please read and indicate that you have understood and agree to the declaration statements.
Section 8: Equal Opportunities Monitoring
• The information you provide in this part of the form (Section 8) is confidential and is NOT used in
the selection process.
Please then review and edit your application where required before selecting ‘Send my Application’ to submit it. Please note that you will not be able to amend your application once you have submitted it.
