Ministerial Briefs and Correspondence Procedure

Purpose. This procedure sets the process and timeframes for registering, allocating, drafting, clearing and dispatching ministerial briefs, ministerial correspondence and executive correspondence.

1.Registration and allocation

Every item from the Minister's office, another agency, a member of Parliament or a member of the public addressed to the Minister or the Deputy Secretary must be registered in the correspondence tracker on the day it is received with a reference number, the type, the due date and the responsible branch. The Policy and Strategy Branch allocates items and monitors due dates.

2.Timeframes

Due dates run from the date of receipt unless the Minister's office sets a shorter date. Urgent requests from the Minister's office take priority over all other work and the Director must be told immediately if a due date cannot be met.

• Ministerial correspondence reply: ten business days to the Minister's office
• Briefing note for decision or information: five business days
• Urgent brief or question time brief: as directed, usually same day
• Executive correspondence: ten business days
• Freedom of information and privacy matters: refer to Corporate Services on the day

3.Drafting

Drafts must use the ministerial brief template, be written in plain language, state the issue, the background, the options and a clear recommendation, and be accurate in every fact and figure. The drafter must check facts against the source record and cite the file. Sensitive matters must be classified and handled under the security procedure.

4.Clearance

Every brief must be cleared by the branch director and the Director, Policy and Strategy before it goes to the Deputy Secretary for signature. Reviewers must check accuracy, tone, legal and financial implications, consultation with other branches and consistency with government policy. Changes must be tracked and the final version saved to the file.

5.Dispatch and record

Signed briefs and replies are dispatched by the ministerial liaison officer through the approved channel, and the tracker must be updated to Sent with the date. The signed version and all drafts must be saved to the ministerial file, which is a permanent record.

6.Monitoring

The Director, Policy and Strategy will report overdue and at-risk items to the executive each week. Branches with items overdue must provide a recovery date and reason.