Public Affairs and Policy Executive

ukactive is the membership organisation representing the fitness, leisure, and wider physical activity sector. It exists to provide expert support to its members on issues of reputational concern, to promote growth and champion the sector through campaigns, to provide business intelligence on sector trends, and to lobby Government to improve members’ operating landscape, ensuring the impact the sector can have on major societal issues is acknowledged and maximised.

The Public Affairs & Policy Executive will support the team to promote physical inactivity as a top-tier public health issue within Westminster, devolved, and local government. You will support the Senior Public Affairs and Policy Manager on policy development and initiatives, support ukactive’s parliamentary strategy, and help build a network with key stakeholders and Parliamentarians.

General Duties

• Supporting ukactive’s parliamentary and political engagement strategy, including maintaining relationships with government, Parliamentarians, and non-government bodies.
• Developing stakeholder engagement strategies to support ukactive’s relationships with its members, partners, and relevant government departments.
• Supporting the Senior Public Affairs and Policy Manager to develop and lead a coherent and coordinated policy programme that supports ukactive to grow its influence and visibility.
• Supporting the wider work of the Directorate as required.

Specific tasks and responsibilities (these include, but are not limited to:)

• Work with the Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager to raise the profile of ukactive and influence policy debates, by monitoring policy developments and parliamentary debates, writing briefing papers on key external announcements and building relationships with parliamentarians and civil servants.
• Support engagement with government on the ukactive policy programme, helping to develop evidence to support this.
• Ensure that ukactive stays abreast of key policy changes and relevant external issues that could impact on relationship support and membership activity
• Supporting the development of range of written reports, including ukactive’s flagship policy reports, white papers, consultation responses, and policy briefings.
• Supporting ukactive’s stakeholder facing events, primarily through narrative and agenda development.
• Supporting ukactive’s policy and parliamentary monitoring strategy.
• On occasion, support with relationships with ukactive’s Strategic Partners and integrating their requirements into wider policy and public affairs work.

Person specification

Skill, knowledge and experience required

Essential

• Must be politically aware and have a good knowledge of the Parliamentary process
• Must be confident, and able to engage and build relationships with stakeholders and clients
• Strong communication skills
• Excellent organisation skills
• Proficient with Microsoft applications, especially Outlook, Word and PowerPoint
• Clear, concise and grammatically correct writing style with an attention to detail
• Ability to prioritise and balance demands from multiple sources
• Self-motivated, and calm under pressure
• Ability to work as part of a team

Desirable

• Knowledge of the fitness/ leisure industry
• Knowledge of the UK health landscape
• Passion for physical activity and/or sport