Seeing the Big Picture Examples, Scored

In my role as a policy officer in a regional transport team, I was asked to draft our response to a national consultation on rural bus funding within three weeks.

Before writing, I mapped how the proposal linked to the department's levelling-up objectives and to our own regional plan, so the response would make sense to ministers as well as to local partners. I met four local authorities and two community transport charities to understand how the change would affect older and disabled passengers, who make up 40% of rural bus users in our area. I used our ticketing data to show which routes would lose services and set this against the national target to improve access to employment.

I noticed that a neighbouring team was preparing a response on rail connections with assumptions that contradicted ours, so I arranged a joint session and we agreed a single position, avoiding mixed messages to the department.

I briefed my Grade 7 on the trade-offs and recommended a phased approach that protected the 12 routes serving hospitals and colleges.

Our response was submitted two days early and quoted in the department's summary of findings. The phased approach was adopted in the final guidance, protecting services for an estimated 9,000 regular passengers. I now start every piece of work by setting out how it supports wider priorities, and I shared this mapping template with my team.

As an Executive Officer in a benefits processing team, I was responsible for a caseload of new claims. Our team objective was to reduce the time customers waited for a first payment.

I made sure I understood how my work fitted with this objective by reading the team's business plan and asking my manager how our figures were reported to senior leaders. I realised that claims from customers with complex health conditions were often delayed because evidence requests went out late.

I started checking each new claim for missing medical evidence on the first day, rather than waiting until the assessment stage, and I sent the request straight away. I also kept up to date with guidance changes by reading the weekly bulletin and passed relevant points to colleagues at our team meeting.

I explained to my manager why I thought this would help the wider target, and she agreed that I could share the approach with two colleagues.

Over the next two months, the claims I handled were ready for assessment around a week sooner than before. My manager mentioned the change in the team's monthly report. I learned that small changes in my own work can support the objectives of the whole directorate.

I have always been someone who sees the big picture and understands how my work contributes to the organisation's wider goals. In my current role I work in a busy corporate services team which supports several directorates across the department, and we deal with a wide range of stakeholders on a daily basis.

Our team is responsible for a lot of important work, including business planning, risk management and performance reporting. We have regular meetings where we discuss the department's priorities and how they fit with government objectives. We always make sure our work is aligned with the wider strategy and that we are delivering value for money for the taxpayer.

Last year there was a big change programme in the department, and we were all involved in making sure it was a success. We worked closely with colleagues in other teams and kept up to date with what was happening across government. It was a challenging time but we all pulled together.

I am passionate about public service and I keep up to date with the latest developments by reading news articles and attending events when I can. I believe this gives me a good understanding of the bigger picture and the national interest. I would bring this strategic outlook to the SEO role and I am confident I could make a strong contribution to the department's objectives.