Advice to ministers: a prototype page for a pilot in the UK civil service

This is what policy advice would look like as a wiki page

In the UK civil service, policy advice is usually provided to ministers as a written document containing analysis, options, and recommendations. As part of a wider project reviewing decision-making in government, this prototype page shows what policy advice could look like if it were set out as a wiki page. The content on this page does not follow any existing template for advice, and does not contain any sensitive information; it is designed purely as a way to test this way of setting out advice. The layout is based on the Government of Canada's GCwiki.

Summary

This section would contain a brief summary of the issue, with links to other wiki pages that contain related information (such as previous advice, and/or links to internal or external documents). It could also contain a recommended action or high-level update.

Body of advice

This is where the body of the advice would appear. It would be separated according to each department's preferences, an example layout follows:

Background

Some background on the issue, including more links to related pages and footnotes for references

Evidence and analysis

This section could make use of features such as tables, images, or link out to other documents and/or interactive features.

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A table showing pros and cons

Pros	Cons	Unknowns
Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example

Some analysis could be set out as a chart

A chart showing COVID-19 vaccination uptake in the UK

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Options and recommendations

This Section would set out options, risks, mitigations, and recommendations

What next

This section would contain contact details of officials for further discussion, or could re-direct to the Discussion feature at the top of the page

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