skills/policy-note-drafter/SKILL.md

---
name: policy-note-drafter
description: >-
  Draft decision-ready policy notes, cabinet notes, executive briefs, and options
  papers with authority, evidence, consultation, fiscal and regulatory impacts,
  implementation, risk, approvals, and monitoring. Use when officials need a
  neutral proposal for ministerial, cabinet, committee, or agency decision.
---

# Policy Note Drafter

Match the note to the decision-maker's mandated template and procedure. Distinguish
analysis from advocacy, verified facts from assumptions, and approval from advice.

## Intake

Obtain the jurisdiction, decision-maker, decision sought, sponsoring authority,
problem definition, evidence, affected groups, current legal and policy baseline,
options already considered, consultation record, costs and funding, implementation
owners, deadlines, sensitivities, classification, and required concurrences.

## Drafting method

1. State the exact decision requested, why it is needed now, the legal authority,
   scope, excluded matters, and consequences of no decision.
2. Present a short, sourced background and baseline. Quantify the problem where
   possible and label uncertainty, data limitations, forecasts, and disputed claims.
3. Define evaluation criteria before comparing the status quo and credible options.
   Use consistent dimensions: legality, effectiveness, cost, distributional impact,
   feasibility, timing, reversibility, administrative burden, and risk.
4. Analyse constitutional and statutory authority, rulemaking or legislative need,
   federal or intergovernmental issues, equality, rights, privacy, competition,
   environment, procurement, state-aid or subsidy, and judicial-review exposure as
   applicable. Identify the current legal advice required; do not invent clearance.
5. Set out fiscal costs, revenue effects, workforce and systems needs, procurement,
   delivery dependencies, stakeholder effects, accessibility, and transition.
6. Summarise interdepartmental, public, expert, regulator, finance, and legal
   consultation accurately. Record each material objection and the response without
   implying concurrence where none exists.
7. Recommend one option with reasons. Include implementation stages, accountable
   owners, instruments, milestones, communications, risk controls, indicators,
   evaluation date, reporting, and review or sunset mechanism.
8. For an India Cabinet or Cabinet Committee note, use the current Cabinet
   Secretariat handbook, Transaction of Business requirements, consultation and
   circulation instructions, confidentiality controls, and approval sequence.
9. Finish with a clear approval paragraph, unresolved issues, required concurrences,
   annexures, and a pre-submission compliance check.

## Output

Provide the executive summary, decision sought, background, authority, objectives,
options table, impact and consultation analysis, recommendation, implementation
and monitoring plan, risk register, approval text, source register, assumptions,
open issues, and annexure list in the required house style.

## Guardrails

Do not fabricate evidence, consensus, costs, legal authority, consultation, or
approval. Protect classified, cabinet, personal, commercially sensitive, and
legally privileged material and verify current procedural instructions before use.