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The introductory section of the instructions

This should be relatively short. Neither the author nor Counsel should exhaust their energies on the non-effective parts of the instructions. The most effort should go into the analysis and explanation of what substantive legal changes are required.

However it is helpful to a drafter before reading the detailed instructions—

• to understand the factual and political background to the proposal to legislate;
• to have a general idea of where the instructions are leading;
• to know Ministers’ priorities for the legislation and the case that will be put for it.

In addition to these matters the introductory section should also contain the following—

• a paragraph introducing the devolution issues that are likely to arise in connection with the Bill;
• if the Bill is likely to give rise to significant EU or ECHR issues, a warning about these;
• any conventions that have been adopted in the instructions (eg acronyms or abbreviations or labels used for particular concepts);
• any information about whether the instructions are contingent (eg on collective agreement, Ministerial decisions, consultation inside or outside Government), and about any risk that they will change;
• any other information about the current state of the project.

Any detailed discussion of devolution, EU or ECHR issues should be left until they can be described in the context of the provisions to which they relate.