Drafting Letters for Ministers
19th Aug 2010
7th Dec 2010
Last year (2008) Ministers replied to over 300,000 letters from MP raising concerns of their constituents - roughly 500 letters per MP. Officials will have had only a few days to pull the required information together and draft an appropriate reply for the Minister to send.
This workshop will help you draft quickly and accurately meeting the Minister’s requirement and responding in a manner which is as empathetic and helpful to the MP and their constituent as is possible. You will learn tips to ‘kill off’ the correspondence and make sure your first draft is your only draft.
Learning Objectives
- Understand why Ministers put a high priority on these letters
- Increase your awareness of political sensitivities
- Understand why people to write to government and the effort it takes
- Understand the importance of sounding helpful, human and empathetic
- Understand what it feels like to get an official letter and what the recipient may do with the reply
- Learn how to write accurately, clearly and concisely with the appropriate tone
- Learn how to speed up your writing
Programme (16th February 2010)
| 9:15 | Registration and Refreshments |
| 9:45 | Introductions
What do people want from the day
What do you like most and least about writing letters? Amanda Bausor, Policy & Communications Training Consultant (confirmed) |
| 10:00 | Why do Minister’s Letters Matter so Much?
It gets in the way of my real job
Exercise: Looking at correspondence from a different point of view: What's it like for Ministers? What's it like for the recipient? |
| 11:00 | The difference between a treat official and a Minister's letter
Exercise: Who is involved and what do they want? |
| 11:15 | The impact of correspondence
Good and bad examples |
| 12:45 | Lunch |
| 13:45 | Getting started on a reply
Exercise: analysis and preparing the reply
Writing exercises with individual help and feedback |
| 15:15 | Refreshments |
| 15:30 | Letters that need extra care: Political sensitivity, Accuracy, Campaigns |
| 16:30 | Close |
Please note that the programme is subject to change without notice
