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COVERING CONFIDENTIAL
24/7
DISTRIBUTION:
Heads of Department and Above
For Action : All Heads of Department
and Desk Officers
FORMAT FOR BRIEFS
FCO Circular 170/87
15 July 1987
17/8
1.
The PUS and the Private Secretaries have agreed with Ministers that henceforth there should be only one format for briefing within the Office. This will apply to briefs for Ministers as well as for officials, for multilateral meetings (including Political Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Councils) as well as for bilateral meetings. In future calls for briefs will not need to specify format or layout since this will follow the standard pattern below:
Title, Brief number (if there is one) Subject, Objective(s), Points to Make
Blue paper :
White paper: References (if any), Background, Originating
Department, Date
A sample layout is attached.
(Normally "blue" will mean "blue crested" for the top copy only. The attachment is on plain blue for reprographic reasons.)
2.
The Secretary of State's special requirements - check list, plastic folder, cloth flags are not affected by this. And brief writers should still bear Ministers' stylistic preferences in mind.
3. The format for briefs outside the Office (e.g. briefs for the Prime Minister or for meetings of the European Council) is not affected by these changes.
Geoffrey Adams PS/PUS
COVERING CONFIDENTIAL