Welsh Statutory Instruments - quick links

This page is intended to collect links to relevant parts of the User Manual for drafters of Welsh Statutory Instruments (WSIs).

It is not intended to be comprehensive but rather to serve as a ‘first port of call’ to help you find relevant information in the User Manual.

Introduction

• Recommended workflow for drafting, translating, and registering Welsh Statutory Instruments

• Introduction to XML - Lawmaker documents are XML documents (XML is a markup language for labelling text and data). Understanding the basic principles of XML may help you, particularly if you want to draft many and/or lengthy documents.

Beginning your document

• Creating a new project

• Documents and folders on the Project Tab - including information on Working, Snapshot and Significant Versions.

• Managing Welsh and English renditions - including information on how to create a Welsh or English language rendition from a translated file produced outside Lawmaker.

• Duplicating a document version

• Import legislation from www.legislation.gov.uk

Viewing your document in the Editor

• Opening a document in the Editor

• Viewing tags - tags allow you to see the structure of the document. See Introduction to XML.

• Using the structure view - important for selecting, moving and deleting provisions.

Basics of drafting in the Editor

• Inserting provisions and other elements

• Working with lists in tables and elsewhere - lists can be used to insert numbered content in Tables.

• Deleting provisions and other elements - Note that it is important to use the methods set out on the page linked above when deleting provisions.

• Wrapping and unwrapping provisions - adding (and removing) grouping elements like Parts, Sections and Chapters when you already have draft provisions

• Promoting and demoting provisions - i.e., changing a provision into a ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ level provision (e.g., Paragraph --> Regulation)

• Moving provisions, tables and amendments within a document

• Using cut, copy and paste

• Adding formatting to text (bold, italic, superscript etc.)

• Typing Welsh vowels with diacritics

• Saving your document - we recommend saving your document frequently.

Numbering of provisions

• Renumbering provisions - useful if your document numbering has got out of order as you have added / moved / removed provisions.

• Locking and unlocking numbers - how to prevent provisions from being renumbered.

References

• References - How to create cross-references to provisions inside your document and links to provisions in other enactments. (These features presently only work in the English-language rendition.)

  • References | How-to-“tag”-references - how to automatically identify references in a provision and add tags to them.

  • References | How-to-create-a-reference-using-the-Structure-View-or-the-right-click-context-menu

Inserting and editing special document elements

• Quoted structures - i.e., textual insertions. Includes guidance on how to mark a textual amendment as an amendment to the Welsh or English text specifically.

• Inserting and managing tables

• Inserting and managing math formulae

• Images

• Managing footnotes

• Citation footnotes (legislative history footnote) - you can automatically generate Citation footnotes, which set out the legislative history of a provision. (This feature currently only works in the English rendition.)

Editing front matter content

• Managing document information - edit the title, year and number of the WSI

• Inserting table of contents

• Managing Subject, Extent and Subsubject

• Managing Dates - Add and update dates including Made, Laid and Coming into Force

• Inserting pre-populated rubrics - Add rubrics such as Correction, Resolution, Approved, Laid in draft or Royal Presence.

Editing explanatory notes and commencement history tables

• Inserting Explanatory Notes

• Inserting Commencement Tables

Reviewing your document

• Using tracked changes - how to mark up added or deleted text, and review changes.

• Adding and managing comments

• Generating and viewing a PDF - including information on how to generate dual-language PDFs.

• Document checks - validating your document - this page covers both Document Checks, which provide guidance on document formatting and content and may be ‘mandatory’ or ‘advisory’, and XML Warnings, which are always necessary to address.

Collaborating on documents

• Sharing a document with another organisation

• Multi-user editing and locks

• Releasing Locks - includes guidance on releasing all user locks on a document, when necessary

Signing and registering documents

• Getting a WSI signed and submitted to TNA

• Managing Signatures - Note that when you want to change signatures, you need to update them using the method provided here, not by directly changing in the Editor.

• Downloading a ZIP file of a document - Note that to submit to TNA, you need to download a ZIP from a document version which has a PDF saved against it - e.g., a Submitted to TNA significant version (see guidance above).

• Processing and submitting SI/SSIs - general info and links on processing secondary legislation.

Getting more help

• Support and Lawmaker support portal - information on Lawmaker technical support arrangements.

• http://support.lawmaker.legislation.gov.uk/ - direct link to the Service portal.

• Known Issues - for known technical problems. Each ‘known issue’ page contains information on working around the issue in question, where possible.