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Deputy Director - Head of Joint Combating Drugs Unit

Job details
Posting date: 22 January 2025
Salary: £76,000 to £86,000 per year
Hours: Full time
Closing date: 11 February 2025
Location: London
Company: Government Recruitment Service
Job type: Permanent
Job reference: 387820/1

Summary

The Public Safety Group’s role is to keep the public safe by cutting crime (including by disrupting the highest harm criminals), tackling its drivers, bringing criminals to justice and protecting the vulnerable. We work closely with partners across policing, the National Crime Agency, and fire and rescue services to ensure they are as efficient and effective as they can be in delivering front line public services.

To deliver on our mission we operate locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. We fund the work of a wide range of front-line agencies and are committed to supporting innovation and good practice sharing across the systems we lead. We are also delivering the Emergency Services Mobile Communication Programme - a major national IT programme to improve communications between police, fire and ambulance services.

The Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU) was created in July 2021 in response to a new cross-government approach to drugs. Its purpose is to develop and oversee delivery of the 10-year drug strategy. It represents a whole-of-government approach, sitting across all six Departments (HO, DHSC, MoJ, DWP, DLUHC and DfE), reporting through into the cross-government Permanent Secretary and Minister.


As a cross-government Unit of around 20, it brings together skills and expertise from across its sponsoring departments and is taking the lead in delivering a strong and impactful cross-government approach to combating drugs.

  • Senior official leadership of the cross-Government drugs strategy, working closely with a broad range of key partners locally, nationally and internationally. Bringing all partners together to transform HMG’s approach to drug misuse over a ten-year period.
  • Reviewing the ambitions and priorities of the 10-year drugs strategy to maximise its impact across the Government’s missions, particularly Safer Streets (crime) and Health. Spotting and mitigating emerging and evolving risks, such as on synthetic opioids, and ensuring the strategic approach responds and adapts accordingly.
  • Tracking and driving the delivery of the strategy across all departments and partners, including by spotting and seizing strategic opportunities and mitigating cross-cutting risks. Responsibility for delivering individual aspects of the drugs strategy, such as treatment and recovery (DHSC), or disruption of the drug supply (HO) remains with their existing departments and respective Secretaries of State.
  • Supporting and advising the cross-Government drugs minister and enabling ministers from the key departments to take a collective leadership approach. The JCDU’s work is additional and complementary to existing policy ownership, cohering a system-wide view on HMG’s ambitions in combating drug misuse, assessing confidence in delivery, impact and advising on strategic prioritisation and investment decisions.
  • Cohering the spending review priorities and strategic narrative in relation to the drugs strategy, working closely with colleagues in the Safer Streets and Health missions.

As a joint unit, the JCDU is hosted by the Home Office and in this role you will be a Home Office employee; however your reporting and accountability is through the cross-government structures.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.