Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU)
Key information:
- Seven vacancies available, including Board Chair
- These are voluntary positions which would require attendance at meetings three times per year; the review of papers prior to board meetings; and induction activities on appointment to the board.
- In addition to the above, the Chair will be required to attend some additional virtual meetings with ASC members; conduct appraisal of governance board members’ performance; and contribute to the recruitment of new members where necessary.
- Location is flexible. Meetings will be held remotely twice a year, and once per year at a Home Office location, to potentially include Croydon, Westminster, Sheffield or Stoke.
Background
We are inviting applications to join the Animals in Science Regulation Unit Governance Board. The Governance Board will support and challenge the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) by providing direct operational advice to the regulator and by assisting ASRU in shaping its strategy, setting priorities, and managing performance to effectively meet its goals and ensure compliance with ASPA*. ASRU has recently undertaken an ambitious programme of reform and structural changes. The board will play an essential part in ensuring ASRU effectively embeds these new ways of working to deliver best-practice regulatory activity.
An existing board, the Animals in Science Committee (ASC), currently advises Ministers through the Animals in Science Regulation Policy Unit and the Northern Ireland Department of Health on policy matters relating to the ASPA and its functions under it. The ASC also advises animal welfare and ethical review bodies on sharing best practice within the UK. The Animals in Science Regulation Governance Board will differ from the ASC by providing direct operational advice to the regulator and by assisting ASRU in shaping its strategy, setting priorities, and managing performance to effectively meet its goals and ensure compliance with ASPA.
About ASRU
ASRU seek to protect animals in science by maintaining compliance with the *Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), assuring that animals are only used in scientific research and testing where there are no alternatives and minimising harm to animals where they are used. ASRU also aims to deliver an excellent service to the science sector to facilitate progress on critical scientific research.
Role summary
The board will provide support and challenge to ASRU and monitor strategic objectives, which are currently: driving compliance with the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement); delivering a quality service for the science sector; facilitating performance and effective governance in the science sector; and directing activity based on evidence, risk and outcomes.
We are looking for up to seven board members, to cover the range of skills, knowledge and experience required. One of these members will be the Chair of the board, who will have responsibility for setting direction; communicating board decisions to ASRU; engaging with the ASC; facilitating decision-making; and contributing to the recruitment of new members where necessary. Further detail of the Chair’s responsibilities is below. Please specify in your application if you would like to apply for the Board Chair position.
Role Description
Board Members
Each board member is expected to contribute to the delivery of ASRU’s purpose, through activities in the following areas:
- Performance: Review ASRU’s delivery of statutory duties and performance framework; advise on improvements where needed.
- Strategy: Scrutinise and advise on strategic direction, assess effectiveness of changes and recommend adjustments.
- Risk: Review significant risks, including reputational ones, and ASRU’s mitigation plans; hold ASRU accountable and advise on risk management.
- Prioritisation: Support the Head of ASRU in setting priorities and resource allocation based on performance and risk reviews.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Advise on effective engagement with stakeholders, including the regulated community and the public.
Board Chair
The Board Chair will take on a leadership role for the board. In addition to the above, the Chair will have the following responsibilities:
- Engagement & Communication: Act as the main liaison between the board, ASRU, and stakeholders, supported by the secretariat. They will build strong relationships, attend ASC plenaries twice a year and meet the ASC Chair annually (virtual attendance at these meetings will be possible).
- Board Operation: Ensure effective board functioning and productive member contributions, supported by ASRU’s secretariat.
- Decision-Making: Harness the energy and expertise of all committee members, consolidate board views into clear recommendations where required. Reconcile differing opinions to represent the board’s position.
- Setting Direction: Align board agendas with ASRU’s goals and facilitate meetings.
- Appraisal & Recruitment: Conduct member appraisals and support recruitment, advocating diversity and inclusion within the board.
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Applicants should demonstrate experience in one or more of the following areas. Please indicate clearly which criteria you are applying under. Please see the “How to apply” section of this page for more detail.
- Senior-level experience in leadership, board membership, or management: Proven ability in setting strategy, assessing performance, managing resources and managing risk. You may have experience in governance, leading change, working across varied organisational contexts and understanding of the functioning of central government.
- Data & Analysis: Demonstrated use of data and evidence to improve organisational performance and outcomes. Ability to advise on data strategy, outcome measurement, and performance reporting for organisational improvement. You may have experience in data/tech transformation projects and strong analytical skills.
- Life Sciences: Knowledge or experience in the life sciences sector (e.g. academia, industry). It would also be beneficial to have familiarity with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) or work in ASPA-regulated areas (note: current ASPA licence holders are ineligible due to a potential conflict of interest). Knowledge of international life science sectors and use of animals in science would be beneficial.
- Regulation: Experience leading or advising on regulatory systems, including licensing, inspection, and compliance. Desirable: exposure to multiple regulatory or international contexts.
- Animal welfare: Experience leading work to improve uptake of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, refinement), and/or holding a veterinary or medical qualification. Knowledge of ethical frameworks and international protections for animals in science is also beneficial.
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All applicants must demonstrate evidence within their application of the following:
- Influence & Accountability: Ability to challenge, hold to account, and influence senior stakeholders through clear, constructive, and direct communication.
- Sound Judgement: Capacity to quickly assimilate organisational information, understand complex organisational contexts, identify issues, and propose effective solutions.
- Collaboration: Strong teamworking skills, with openness to diverse perspectives and evidence-based discussion, contributing to meaningful and inclusive dialogue.
If applying for the Chair role, you must also demonstrate:
- Leadership: Proven ability to lead and foster an inclusive, engaged environment where board members are empowered to share their views. Able to reconcile differing views to form clear recommendations, represent the board effectively, and engage confidently with key stakeholders, including the Head of ASRU and the ASC.
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We welcome applicants at varying stages of their career and particularly encourage those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to apply.
- A CV setting out your career history, including details of your professional qualifications
- A covering letter (with a maximum of 1,000 words) outlining the skill areas from the essential criteria that you are addressing in your application and how you meet these criteria. If you wish to apply to the Board Chair position, please also detail this in your application.
- Information relating to any outside interests or reputational issues that may conflict with board membership.
Applications should be made to [email protected]
Expected timeline (subject to change)
Applications should be submitted by 31st July. Any applications after this date will not be considered.
Applications are planned to be assessed during the week commencing 4th August with interviews taking place the week commencing 18th August.
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Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.
All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying of examples/answers from internet sources. If any are detected the application will be withdrawn from the process. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the professional values expected of board members.
The CV and personal statement will be assessed against the essential criteria that you specify you are applying against, with a score out of seven attributed for each criterion.
As we are looking to cover a variety of skills across the board as a whole, applications which score highly for one criterion will be prioritised over applications which achieve a lower score across multiple criteria.
There will be minimum score to reach for at least one of the criteria to proceed to interview (all three of the essential skills should be demonstrated). With that said, please include skills across any criteria that you meet as scoring highly across multiple criteria will be advantageous when compared to an application scoring highly against only one criterion.
For the three essential skills, it will be necessary to meet the threshold for the score out of seven for each criterion to advance to interview. For the Chair, it will be necessary to meet the threshold for the score out of seven for the specified criteria, in addition to the above.
The interview will focus on the essential criteria that you have specified in your application. In a similar way to the assessment of the written application, relevant criteria will be scored out of seven, with candidates meeting the necessary threshold being successful.
If there are more successful candidates than positions, we will look to appoint the candidates with the highest scores. There will also be some general questions based on the three essential criteria listed at the bottom of the Essential Criteria section, which will again be scored out of seven. Candidates will be required to meet the threshold for all of these criteria.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
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This role is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- Individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
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The Home Office is an accredited user of the government’s “Disability Confident” scheme. As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the role, set out in the advert, and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. If you wish to be considered under this scheme, email [email protected] who will advise on next steps. It is not necessary to state the nature of your disability.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
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Any data about you will be held in secure conditions with access restricted to those who need it in connection with dealing with your application. Data may also be used for the purposes of monitoring the effectiveness of the recruitment process, but in these circumstances will be kept anonymous. The diversity monitoring form is used for monitoring the selection process only. If you do not want these details to be recorded, please return the form uncompleted.
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Each member will be required to complete a Register of Interests on appointment. Significant conflicts of interest will result in the member being unable to serve on the board.
We encourage applicants who have held senior leadership positions in a regulatory environment. However, we note that in some instances this could result in a conflict of interest. We are keen to ensure there are not conflicts of interest between the position held and participation in the Board. If you are interested in applying and are unsure whether this presents a potential conflict of interest, please contact us using the email address below.
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Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
