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Drafting a Paper

The purpose of this is, of course, to produce a paper which will be read by the Ministers attending who will be taking a decision. For a Committee discussion to be effective therefore the papers need to be:

• Clear - set out the purpose upfront and provide precise recommendations for Ministers to consider
• Concise - no more than three pages (with detail, if necessary, in an annex)
• Available in time

A template with more advice for those involved with drafting papers is available in this guide. It sets out the key requirements, including rules on the formatting of papers.

To ensure that the paper is fit for purpose and properly formatted, the Secretariat may ask departments to submit a draft in advance of the meeting for comment. This should be done before it is submitted to Ministers for clearance. They may equally ask for such drafts to be discussed earlier at an officials meeting. Deadlines will be set when the paper is commissioned.