Writing Ministerial Correspondence and Briefs

Overview

One of the more challenging aspects of writing in the Public Sector is the need to be able to prepare briefs or responses to letters on behalf of ministers. Public sector employees at many different levels are expected to undertake this responsibility. This course provides you with an opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and confidence to write clear and concise responses to ministerial letters and prepare ministerial briefs.

Course Content

This course gives you theory and practice in writing letters and briefs. It also gives you writing tools to make the task quicker and easier. It provides an overview of the whole mysterious process of writing ministerials and helps you to understand what the minister wants, why it's important and how to deliver it.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course attendees should be able to:

• know how to select the right information to put into a letter or brief
• write concisely
• consider the needs of the audience - both minister and constituent
• write faster
• reduce the number of times briefs and letters come back to them for corrections and changes

Benefits to your organisation

• prompt, well-written ministerials promote trust between the department and the community
• well-written ministerials and briefs mean managers can focus on matters of fact or policy rather than on correcting writing errors

Benefits to you

• you will understand what you can control in the ministerial writing process and what you need to be pragmatic about
• you will have the skills to write letters and briefs more quickly and in the style preferred by the minister