Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) is seeking to appoint an experienced Policy and Public Affairs Officer who is educated to degree level, ideally with a relevant postgraduate qualification, with a keen interest in reducing harms from alcohol.

The Role

The Policy and Public Affairs Officer will help guide SHAAP advocacy activities through identifying and analysing relevant policy, providing advice and developing evidence-based positions, carrying out research, monitoring media and policy activity, dealing with the media, responding to consultations, organising events and providing administrative support.

SHAAP is a partnership of the Medical Royal Colleges and the Faculty of Public Health in Scotland and is based at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).

Using the best available evidence, SHAAP provides the authoritative clinical voice on how policy makers and clinicians can reduce alcohol-related harms in Scotland. We work in close collaboration with key organisations in the alcohol field in Scotland, the rest of the UK and worldwide.

The Person

The Policy and Public Affairs Officer will be an excellent communicator with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority, with the ability to self-manage and prioritise in a dynamic context and within a small team. They must have the ability to advise on and communicate SHAAP policy positions, with experience of researching and drafting briefings, and/or policy papers and/or consultation responses. They must also be able to represent SHAAP at internal and external meetings, seminars and conferences.

Please refer to the Job Description for the role and person full details.

Remuneration Package

The salary for this role will be £34,711 per annum plus benefits. Additional benefits include:

• Pension: with employer contributions of 9%.
• Holidays: 23 days annual leave (with incremental increase over five years to 28 days) and 11 days public holiday/College close downs.
• Life assurance scheme.
• Long-term income protection scheme for those unable to work due to illness.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Discounted rates for use of the venue for personal events.

*Based at the College in Queen Street, Edinburgh, with flexibility for a form of hybrid working to be agreed.

The Royal College of General Practitioners is the largest membership organisation solely for GPs in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1952, it has over 55,000 members, including 5000 in Scotland, who are committed to improving patient care, developing their own skills and promoting general practice as a discipline. General practice is the largest branch of the medical profession. It provides some 1 million consultations for patients in the UK every working day and deals with 86% of the health problems experienced by the UK population.

We are currently recruiting a Policy and Public Relations Officer to support our communications, policy and public affairs activity in Scotland, and we are looking for someone who has demonstrable experience in a communications, policy or public affairs role.

You will work closely with the Policy & Public Affairs Manager to ensure that the priorities of RCGP and issues impacting general practice are recognised by policy makers, the press and the public. You will support RCGP work to influencing decision making at the highest level which will have a direct impact on general practice and its patients by drafting RCGP policy consultation responses, representing RCGP policy at high-level external stakeholder meetings and providing comprehensive briefings to our GP representatives ahead of these meetings.

You will also help to deliver our internal and external communications across Scotland, ensuring that our key messages reach the intended audiences to maximise impact. This will require you to develop and maintain links with media contacts across Scotland, draft key internal communications to our members and produce proactive and reactive media statements. You will take a lead role in maintaining our social media presence.

Our small, friendly team plays a key role in supporting general practice in Scotland. You’ll be helping communicate to stakeholders the views of the RCGP, and to do that effectively, knowledge and experience of the health agenda, patient issues and political context of Scotland would be highly advantageous.

You’ll have degree level education or have requisite experience, be an excellent team player and be able to work across a varied organisation and take a corporate viewpoint.

The successful candidate will share our corporate values. In return, the College offers excellent terms and conditions and great working environment. This role will be hybrid with two days a week in our office in Edinburgh city centre. We offer flexible working hours Monday to Friday.

Established in 1984 to eradicate all forms of discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976, CSREC works across Central Scotland, including but not limited to, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, and Stirling Council areas.

At CSREC, we aim to reduce the negative effects of inequality and marginalisation experienced by Minority Ethnic individuals, asylum seekers, and refugees across Central Scotland, enabling them to engage with the wider public to enhance community cohesion and prevent discrimination.

In view of the nature of this post, the successful candidate will be required to join the PVG scheme.

Aims of the Post:

To deliver the key Scottish Government outcomes for the Equality & Human Rights Fund. The agreed outcomes are:

a) People have greater awareness and understanding of their human rights, and how to access them.

b) People with protected characteristics have increased access to remedies where their rights have not been upheld.

c) People with protected characteristics have increased participation in public life.

d) Public services increasingly embed equality and human rights in their strategic planning and their day-to-day functions.

Main Tasks & Responsibilities

• To provide support and advice to ethnic minority individuals and families on asylum and protection, and EU settlement scheme (restricted to OISC Level 1 advice).
• To provide support, advice, and information to individuals, families, and community groups from ethnic minority backgrounds on issues such as discrimination, employment, housing, hate crime reporting, welfare benefits, health, education, and other issues that arise. This is a busy service and casework can take up a lot of the time.
• To positively increase awareness of hate crime reporting and discrimination through undertaking presentations to relevant groups and networks across Central Scotland.
• To help engage, motivate, and support ethnic minority individuals and groups to be involved in cascading information about equality matters and the Equality Act 2010 to their own contacts and networks and take up opportunities for direct involvement in civic society.
• To assist in the preparation of written reports to management, funders, steering committees, and other bodies as required.
• To work in partnership with local groups, third sector organisation and public sector.
• To assist in the design and deliver tailored training sessions for community groups and organisations on a range of equality-related topics.
• To provide pertinent feedback and participate in team meetings and events.
• To assist in organising events to further the aims of the project and participate in events organised by partner organisations.
• To develop good working relationships with our service users, their support networks, community groups, third sector organisations, public services, and other key stakeholders.
• To ensure the service user remains at the forefront of the process, and that the values and principles that underpin community learning and development are adhered to at all times.

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes books, reading and writing have the power to change lives. A love of reading inspires creativity, improves employment opportunities, mental health and wellbeing and is one of the most effective ways to help break the poverty cycle. We work towards a Scotland where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive through literacy.

We are looking for an enthusiastic administrator with excellent communications and organisational skills to join the Early Years team at Scottish Book Trust.

What we offer

• Full time, fixed-term role

• Competitive salary

• Flexible hybrid working between home and our Edinburgh City Centre Office, with great access by train, bus, and tram

• Generous holiday entitlement

• Company Sick Pay

• Pension with additional 5% employer contributions

• Death in service benefit

• Free access to employee assistance programme

Among many other programmes, Scottish Book Trust delivers Bookbug, Scotland’s national early years book gifting programme, which provides a free, high quality, book bag for every baby, toddler, three-year-old and primary 1 child in the country and is funded by Scottish Government.

The Early Years Operations Administrator provides reliable and efficient administration to support the smooth running of the Early Years programme, with a particular focus on operational aspects.

scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug