One Kemble Street
London
WC2B 4TS / T
F / +44 (0)20 7210 3000
+44 (0)20 7210 3001
Steve Elibank
By e-mail
DX 123242 Kingsway 6 /
Your ref:
Our ref:RM 82 15
20 August 2015
Dear Mr Elibank
Your Freedom of Information Act request
On 22 July 2015 you e-mailed the Government Legal Service requesting the following information:
In response to a written Parliamentary question recently, Oliver Letwin stated:
The Government Legal Service runs a structured training programme and produces comprehensive guidance on drafting statutory instruments. The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel also makes its drafting guidance available to Departmental lawyers."
Please provide me with an electronic copy of all of the said training material and guidance related to the drafting of secondary legislation and statutory instruments
The Government Legal Service has passed the request to the Government Legal Service for reply.
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel drafting guidance is published on the gov.uk website. Here is the link
Please find attached as an annex to this letter a copy of the SI drafting guidance. This is general guidance for GLS lawyers on the drafting of statutory instruments. It contains advice on the process of producing SIs as well as on good drafting practice.
Some of the information contained in the guidance has been redacted for the following reasons:
Information which contains personal data is exempted from the response in accordance with Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),as the information constitutes third party data. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be unfair to that person who does not work in a public facing role and would have no expectation that his/her personal data would be used for this purpose.
Information relating to the provision of advice by any of the law officers which if disclosed would adversely affect the delivery of effective government in accordance with Section 35(1)(c) of the FOIA
For the avoidance of doubt, in relying on this exemption, I am of the view that the strong public interest against disclosure inherent as set out in the exemption section 35(1)(c), is not outweighed by the public interest in disclosure of the material in question.
Please also find attached as an annex to this letter a copy of all training material and guidance relating to the drafting of secondary legislation and statutory instruments. Some information contained in this material has also been redacted in accordance with Section 40(2) as outlined above.
If you are unhappy with the level of service you have received in relation to your request you may ask for an internal review within two months of the receipt of this response. If you wish to do this you should contact me at the above address. It will help ensure that your complaint is properly considered if when requesting an internal review you also set out the reasons why you are unhappy with the service you have received.
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number in any future communications.
Yours sincerely
Paul Woods
DRO, FOI/DPA Co-ordinator, Head of Library Services
Operations, Government Legal Department
One Kemble Street, London WC2B 4TS
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7210 3045
Annex A
Annex B
Annex C
Author’s name
Position / Title
D +44 (0)20 7210 1234
F +44 (0)20 7210 2234
E