How to Write a Policy Briefing

Read our tips for writing policy briefings, and find out how we produce POSTnotes and POSTbriefs. UK's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POST has been producing policy briefings for over thirty years. In this time, we have written over 600 briefings and have honed our technique. Our flagship briefing, the POSTnote, reviews the current research in topical and emerging areas and is a trusted, impartial source of information. Interviews with tens of experts and stakeholders as well as rigorous internal and external peer review, make for an impartial and balanced report. POSTnotes help Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and UK Parliament staff navigate complex research. POSTnotes typically take three months to produce. In this time they go through a systematic literature and extensive peer review. Their topics are a product of horizon scanning undertaken by our team of advisers. Topic proposals are taken to a board of parliamentarians and external experts. They in turn prioritise which proposals will be made into POSTnotes. POSTbriefs are dynamic and strategic evidence syntheses. They are produced in response to major developments in current affairs or at the request of select committees or the Libraries. POSTbriefs summarise the available research literature, and can be produced in as little as one month. As POSTbriefs don’t follow a strict four-page limit, they can be more flexible and tailor the content to the needs of the topic. They can provide in-depth analyses of complex research, reactively presenting evidence on various topics. POSTbriefs can be requested by select committees of both Houses to aid in scoping or to provide background reading to Members. Here we go over the typical production process of a policy briefing.