About agendas
Distribution of agendas and papers
On the day of the deadline, the committee secretary emails a draft agenda to the offices of committee members and Ministers with a portfolio interest in the items.
Final agendas and papers for committees are sent out before the meeting. The latest they are sent is the afternoon of the day before the meeting but they are usually distributed earlier than this.
Committee agendas are distributed to all members of the committee, any other Ministers who have a portfolio interest in an item on the agenda, and the chief executives of departments that likewise have a portfolio interest. The distribution list is shown at the end of the agenda or paper. (See the CabGuide section on how to read distribution lists.)
Papers for Cabinet committees are copied to all members of the committee. For any particular item, they are also copied to any other Ministers who have a portfolio interest, and the chief executives of departments that likewise have a portfolio interest.
Agendas and papers are sent to departments through the relevant Ministers' offices.
Agendas and papers for Cabinet meetings are distributed to all Cabinet Ministers, and occasionally to Ministers outside Cabinet if they are to attend Cabinet for a particular item. They are not copied to departmental chief executives. They are distributed on Thursday and Friday for a Monday meeting.
Draft agendas
Draft agendas for Cabinet committees are emailed to the senior private secretaries of members of the committee. The email is usually sent on the day of the submission deadline. The date and time of the meeting is given, together with a list of the papers received for the meeting. The papers listed may not yet have been accepted for the agenda and the final agenda is often different from this draft. Ministers who have a portfolio interest in any of the items on the agenda will also be notified.
If these emails are forwarded to departments, they must be treated with the same level of security as for all Cabinet documents.
Previously distributed items
Sometimes an item on an agenda will have a paper reference (or shoulder number) and the words"previously distributed" beside it. This means that:
- a paper that has been considered at a previous meeting is required for the meeting referred to in the agenda;
- the staff responsible for collating the Minister's meeting papers need to retrieve the paper from their filing system and include it with the papers for the meeting;
- the recommendations in the paper are likely to still need to have decisions taken on them; and
- if a Minister does not have a copy of the "previously distributed" paper, the Cabinet Office will provide one.
Previous references
Sometimes an item on an agenda will have a paper reference (or shoulder number) and the words " previous reference" beside it. This means that:
- there is an earlier paper on the same subject which should be included with the Minister's papers so that he or she has the information available to refer to during the meeting;
- the paper is likely to be for Ministers' information only and the recommendations do not need to be considered by the committee; and
- if a Minister does not have a copy of the paper, the Cabinet Office will provide one.
Additional agenda
Sometimes it is necessary for an additional agenda to be issued after the main agenda has been distributed. It will contain items that were not included on the main agenda because, for example, they were not received on time. The additional agenda will have the same reference as the main agenda, but with the addition of "add 1". It should be stapled to the main agenda, and the papers listed on it treated in the same manner as the other items on the main agenda.
Revised agenda
Sometimes it is necessary for an agenda to be withdrawn once it has been distributed, and a revised version issued. The revised version will have the same reference as the original version, but with the addition of "rev 1". The original version should be destroyed via the confidential waste or may be recalled by the Cabinet Office.
