Are you comfortable working with data, from gathering and analysis through to design and presentation?
Are you a natural communicator with the ability to tailor your communication approach to suit your audience?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Fire Statistician to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!
The post is likely to suit statisticians or generalists with good analytical skills, possibly looking to move into the statistics profession, owing to the mix of data collection, analysis and data science work. The post offers a mix of work relating to the collection of data (including working with fire and rescue services), the processing of data and publication of statistics, as well as the opportunity for project work both on data development and data analysis. The team uses data from the Incident Recording System (IRS), which fire and rescue services (FRSs) complete for every incident attended. We process and analyse the data to produce various Accredited Official Statistics publications, answer Freedom of Information requests and develop the evidence-base for decision-making. With the transition to a new data collection system, the team are developing the content of the publications to reflect new and emerging risks. We work closely with policy and FRSs to understand the working environment and ensure the evidence-base is developed to meet the needs of our users. Our publications are all available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-statistics-monitor
Job description
Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Lead the collection, analysis, and production of quality and timely statistics to feed into high-profile Official Statistics publications.
- Effectively communicate to build relationships with data suppliers ensuring data collections are accurate and reliable.
- Work within the fire analysis team to develop the evidence-base to support decision making, transparency and ad-hoc requests.
- Develop and upskill in SQL and R ensuring the team is utilising modern data science tools; working with reproducible analytical pipelines (RAPs) to streamline processes and improve dissemination.
- Use your communication skills to support dissemination including supporting policy colleagues to use analysis effectively.
Person specification
Essential criteria
- To be eligible to apply, you must either be an existing badged member of Government Statistical Group (GSG), or meet the entry criteria outlined under the selection process details or in the attached guide for analytical candidates.
- Experience working with different types of data, including working to validate, quality assure and process data to produce robust outputs.
- Strong foundation of analytical skills, preferably with some experience of using Excel, R, SQL or similar tools to produce summary statistics.
- Experience in effectively disseminating data and/or information to meet the needs of a range of different users.
- Experience in planning and prioritising work, so as to work independently and as part of a team.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills, which you can leverage to work effectively in a team and develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders and data suppliers.
Desirable criteria
- It would be advantageous if you have previously worked on Official Statistics publications.
- Experience in software such as SQL and R would be beneficial.
- Advanced Excel skills would be useful.
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 27th July 2025
