Cabinet paper attachments are usually one of the following:
- appointments information (Organisation form and Candidate CV form, which should be combined into one document when uploaded into CabNet)
- additional supporting information that is presented separately to the main paper in an appendix or annex
- discussion document for public release
- a report
- legislative instrument
- Regulatory Impact Statement
- graphical material that is separate from the main paper, such as maps, photographs, diagrams or charts.
Attachments, particularly those proposed to be publicly released, should be written in plain and clear language and formatted so that they can be easily read. Remember that the document will likely be read by people who are not subject matter experts, and should be accessible by people who may not speak English as their main language, or who have a disability. The accessibility guide Leading the way in accessible information developed by the Office for Disability Issues includes useful advice on how to do this.
Attachments need to be uploaded as PDF's into CabNet when the final draft of the Cabinet paper is uploaded, and may also need to be provided in hard copy to the Cabinet Office if they are large (over 35 pages in total), or if there are more than three A3 attachments. More information about this is below.
For more information, read the guidance for uploading attachments to Cabinet papers in CabNet.
When hard-copies of attachments need to be provided to Cabinet Office#
- A4 attachments: if the attachment, or the combined total of all attachments, is over 35 pages long, 30 hard-copies of each attachment will need to be provided to the Cabinet Office Registry to attach to the printed version of Ministers’ papers.
- A3 attachments: if there are more than three attachments, 30 hard copies will need to be provided to the Cabinet Office Registry.
- Legislation drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (draft bills/regulations):
- electronic copies of draft bills and regulations for papers to the Cabinet Legislation Committee (LEG) or other committees will be sent directly to the Cabinet Office by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) and uploaded as an attachment to the relevant paper
- PCO will also provide the Cabinet Office Registry with 30 hard copies of legislation that is over 35 pages to attach to the printed version of Ministers’ papers.
- Legislation not drafted by PCO: Minister’s offices will also need to provide the Cabinet Office Registry with 30 hard copies of legislation that is over 35 pages to attach to the printed version of Ministers’ papers.
Hard-copy attachments should be delivered to the Cabinet Office by the relevant Minister’s office by 10 am Thursday, the week before the meeting is scheduled to take place.
All hard-copy documents should be:
- double sided and stapled
- in colour, if applicable
- A3s should be Z-folded, and able to be easily read (clear layout, with reasonably sized text and graphics).
If there are multiple attachments, then please group these into sets of 30.
If the attachment needs to be edited after it is been uploaded into CabNet, a new version can be uploaded to CabNet before the submission is Published. If hard-copies have already been delivered to the Cabinet Office Registry, 30 replacement hard copies will need to be provided.
If a paper with large attachments is referred from one meeting to another, further copies of the attachments may be required. Contact the Cabinet Office Registry for more information.