Committee Officer

We are lookingfor a full time Committee Officer to support our full range of licensingcommittees and related work. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who isquality focused and who wants to make a real and tangible difference to ourwork and the lives of patients.

Main duties of the job The post holderwill work within a small team of Committee Officers to ensure theLicencing Committees are well supported by monitoring the flow of businessdesignated to Committees and ensuring clarity of agendas, quoracy, conflictsmanagement. They will produce meeting bundles ensuring these are of a high levelof quality, are quality assured by the Licensing Committees Manager, and arecirculated on time to Committee Members and attendees. They will also be expected to attend all designated Licensing meetings and draft accurateminutes and Licence documentation in line with the key performance targets foreach Committee.

The rightcandidate will have prior experience of supporting and minuting formalcommittees and panels, ideally in a licensing, governance or other quasi-legalsetting, and may have worked in another regulator or similar public body.As well as anawareness of legal risks and the nature of quasi-legal decision making, youwill have excellent written communication skills, with experience of producingclear minutes to tight deadlines. The ideal candidate should also have the interpersonalskills and confidence to engage sensitively with senior staff, board membersand colleagues.Given thevaried nature of this role, good time management and organisational skills withthe ability to prioritise tasks effectively is key. The ideal candidate willdemonstrate a positive can-do mindset and offer resilience and flexibility whenadapting to change.

About us The HFEA isthe UK's independent regulator overseeing safe and appropriate practice infertility treatment and embryo research. We license and monitor clinicscarrying out IVF, donor insemination, and human embryo research.

This post isoffered as either office based (in which case you will need to attend theoffice at least one day per week)or home based (in which case office attendance will be specified byyour line manager based on business need). Our office is in Stratford, eastLondon, alongsideseveral other health Arms Length Bodies. In addition to flexibility and hybridworking we offer generous annual leave and pension arrangements.

The HFEA is amember of the Community Race and Work Charter and the Disability ConfidentCharter. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive workingenvironment that is free from any form of discrimination. We recognise thatthere are real benefits of having a diverse community of staff and aim for ourworkforce to be truly representative of all sections of society. Additionally,we adopt a culture that hopes to attract and retain talented individuals thatwant to work with us.

In November 2024 and 2025, the HFEA was awarded People Insight's Outstanding Workplace Award.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for this role - the right to work in the UK will need to be provided prior to interview.

We reserve the right to close this role early should we receive sufficient applications.

No agencies please.

Job responsibilities Key responsibilities

Meetings management

To forward plan meeting dates and associatedarrangements in conjunction with the Licensing Manager, liaising with members,advisers and venues as needed.

To work with the Licensing Manager, members,external legal (or other) advisers and particularly Chairs to ensure clarity ofagendas, quoracy, conflicts management and well run meetings.

To liaise with staff submitting papers forforthcoming meetings, to manage the flow of business to designated committeesand ensure decisions (affecting patients and/or the licence status of centres)will be made in a timely way.

To produce meeting bundles, ensuring these areof a high level of quality, are quality assured by the Licensing Manager (or,in their absence, another committee officer), and are provided on time tocommittee members and other attendees.

To make all necessary practical arrangements formaetings, including room bookings, catering, audio-visual facilities, raisingrequisitions in WAP, ensuring advisers are booked as required etc.

To identify any substantive issues of fact, policy or statute within those papersand their recommendations that might inhibit the Committees decision-makingability, rectifying, seeking further information or escalating queries whereappropriate.

Provide a high quality service to all designatedmeetings, ensuring that arrangements andvenue information has been provided to attendees, and that quoracy andconflicts have been confirmed and managed in advance.

To ensure that the Standard Licensing Pack,relevant decision trees and any other necessary materials are available for thecommittee throughout the meeting, pointing out key reference documents to theChair as appropriate.

Attend all designated licensing meetings todraft accurate minutes in a timely way after the meeting (in accordance withthe key performance targets for each committee) for review by the LicensingManager, the meetings Legal Adviser and any expert advisers present, and thento manage the process of discussing and finalising minutes by the members.

Take responsibility for clearing rooms at the end of the meeting and keeping confidential documents secure at all times.

To ensure that licences, documentation and(where relevant) legal notices are issued correctly and on time, working withthe Legal Adviser for the relevant meeting, and to follow up with PRs and/orinspectors when formal acceptance of documents is required.

Provide resilience for other members of theLicensing team, as directed by the Licensing Manager, for example to coverannual leave or sick leave.

Licensing information management

To work with the Licensing Manager to conductregular audits of the information in Epicentre, the HFEAs statutory registerof licences, to assure the accuracy and completeness of centres licensingdocumentation.

To ensure that accepted offer licences areactivated on their due date, so that centres licences do not lapse.

To manage the safe custody and filing of theofficial records of the HFEAs licensing committee business, maintainingaccurate and up-to-date records which can be accessed by the organisation asrequired.

To be the first port of call for day-to-daylicensing queries, both internal and external, and to elevate those of a moreserious or complex nature to line management as appropriate.

To provide performance information relating tothe number of items considered, the time taken to approve minutes, and otherrequired statistics, for corporate reporting purposes.

To use current, up-to-date templates, StandardOperating Protocols SOPs and other standard documentation to ensure that workis delivered correctly and consistently across the licensing team, and toparticipate in and engage with the updating of standard documentation whenrelevant.

From time to time, administering the processingsystem for all applications to the Licensing Officer.

To work with other HFEA staff on projects thatinvolve licensing, providing expert input and advice when appropriate,reporting back to the wider Licensing team on new developments, and working asa member of the project team to implement required licensing outcomes.

Communication

Ensure that certain reports and all licensingminutes are published on the HFEAs website in accordance with the HFEAspublication policy, ensuring that all published information is referred to theLicensing Manager for quality assurance, and that any publication problems areraised with other teams and followed up.

To identify action points arising from themeetings and ensure that these are communicated to the appropriate staff, whererelevant scheduling a meeting to ensure that actions are understood andimplemented.

To support committee members and advisers withrespect to Committee business, responding to queries or referring them to otherstaff as appropriate.

Other requirements

Processingrequisitions, payments, expenses and goods received, through the HFEAs financesystem WAP.

Providingadministrative support to the Licensing Manager and external lawyers foroccasional representations and appeals hearings.

Providinggeneral administrative and quality management support to the Licensing Manager.

Toassist other staff in the team as and when needed so as to provide mutual cover for example during holiday or sickness and seamless support for all licensingmeetings.

Toundertake such other tasks and responsibilities as may be required from time totime.

Person Specification

• Strong time management skills and an ability to be flexible and proactive, and to use initiative to prioritise workload.
• Excellent organisational skills and record keeping, using supplied software and systems skilfully.
• Ability to maintain concentration and accuracy at times of peak workload.
• Ability to adhere to standard procedures and templates.
• Personal resilience and an ability to remain calm under pressure.

Knowledge

• Ability to understand complex topics, recognise potential legal or governance risks and issues, and capture decisions clearly, so as to enable excellent, clear minute writing in relation to complex quasi-legal and scientific subjects.
• Excellent interpersonal skills in order to work across teams and liaise with board members and senior staff . click apply for full job details