Working with Ministers: a Practical Handbook on Advising, Briefing & Drafting
Working with Ministers A practical handbook on advising, briefing & drafting A new edition of the handbook written by Christopher Jary now revised by the original author with Laura Bryant-Smith of the Policy Profession Support Unit 2 WORKING WITH MINISTERS 0-9536688-2-7 © Crown Copyright 2004 Sixth Edition Published January 2015 First edition published May 2004 Second edition published May 2005 Third edition published October 2006 Fourth edition published March 2008 Fifth edition published July 2011 This edition published November 2014 © Crown Copyright 2004 A HANDBOOK ON ADVISING, BRIEFING & DRAFTING 3 Contents Introduction to this guide 7 Chapter 1: Ministers and civil servants: Characteristics, roles and relationships 9 Chapter 2: The Private Office 30 Chapter 3: How to brief a minister 38 Chapter 4: How to draft ministers’ letters 56 Chapter 5: How to draft answers to Parliamentary Questions 70 Chapter 6: How to write ministers’ speeches 95 Chapter 7: Civil Service ethics in practice 119 Appendix 1: The Civil Service Code 134 Appendix 2: Extracts from the Ministerial Code 141 Appendix 3: Extracts from the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers 149 Annex A: Ministerial Code: The Seven Principles of Public Life 153 IndeX 155 4 WORKING WITH MINISTERS A HANDBOOK ON ADVISING, BRIEFING & DRAFTING 5 Acknowledgements In these matters, as in Michael Meacher, Terry Burns, everything else, we’re all Peter Hennessy, Dennis standing on each other’s Kavanagh, Dicky Bird, Sean Lusk, shoulders. Many colleagues, Paul Grant, Jane Foulsham, knowingly or not, have Heather Todd, Michael Partridge, contributed to this handbook. Tony Shaw, Helena Charlton, Many of the ideas that follow Francis Coxhead, Zoe McNeill- have been stolen shamelessly Ritchie, Richard Jackson, over the years from friends and Chris Carr, Michael Duggett and colleagues of all kinds: civil Brian Whalley.
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