Skip to main content

Alpha This guidance is in development. You can find current content and publishing guidance on GOV.UK.

Skip past section navigation
Standard content types

Speeches

When to use this content type

Use speeches for a:

  • public speech
  • ministerial statement to Parliament
  • authored article

Do not create a new speech unless:

  • you expect a high level of public interest in everything that was said, not just the main messages (otherwise, use the news article content type)
  • it’s necessary context for understanding how a policy is progressing

Do not use it for:

To create or update this content type, you’ll need a Signon account with access to Whitehall Publisher.

Choose the right type of speech

Before you start, decide whether the speech should be marked as:

  • transcript (for verbatim reports of exactly what the speaker said – also known as ‘checked against delivery’)
  • draft text (for reports of what the speaker was supposed to say – also known as ‘check against delivery’)
  • speaking notes (if it’s not a complete speech – for example it’s a summary of topics covered)
  • written statement to Parliament
  • oral statement to Parliament
  • authored article

Create a draft

If you’re creating a new speech

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher.
  2. Select the ‘New document’ tab.
  3. Select ‘Speech’ and then select the ‘Next’ button.
  4. Select the content type from the dropdown under ‘Speech type’.
  5. Add the title and summary, and put the speech itself in the body. Read the tone of voice guidance and formatting guidance for help.
  6. Add the ‘Speaker’ or ‘Writer’. They need to have a people page to have a profile on GOV.UK.
  7. Add the date the speech was ‘Delivered on’ or ‘Written on’, and choose whether to add the exact time.
  8. You can choose whether to add the location of where the speech was delivered (unless you’re creating an ‘authored article’).
  9. Select ‘Limit access’ under ‘Settings’ if your draft is sensitive. This means only users from organisations tagged to the content can see it before it’s published. It will not be copied across to Integration.
  10. Select the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page.

After saving the page, you can add images.

If you’re updating an existing speech

Do not make updates unless you’re correcting an error. Speeches are supposed to be a record of what was said at the time.

If a speech is outdated, consider withdrawing it.

If you’re correcting an error:

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher.
  2. Select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  3. Search for the speech you want to edit, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page. If you only want to update the topic tags and nothing else, select ‘Change tags’ under ‘Topic taxonomy tags’. Otherwise, keep following these steps.
  4. Select the ‘Create new edition’ button. If a new edition has already been created, select the ‘Go to draft’ link. You can then select ‘Edit draft’ or, if you do not want to use this draft, select ‘Delete draft’ and then select ‘Create new edition’.
  5. Make any changes to the title, summary, body and speech details as needed. Read the tone of voice guidance and formatting guidance for help.
  6. Do not change anything under the ‘Political’ heading. This is related to history mode and it will only need to be changed if your organisation is asked to take part in an audit of content before a general election.
  7. Select ‘Limit access’ under ‘Settings’ if your draft is sensitive. This means only users from organisations tagged to the content can see it before it’s published. It will not be copied across to Integration.
  8. Decide whether you need to write public change notes. Go to the bottom of the page and select the relevant option under ‘Do users have to know the content has changed?’, and add your change notes if needed (you can edit them again before you publish the draft).
  9. Select the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page.

You can now edit the images.

Note:

If you select ‘Create new edition’ and you get a message telling you that the ‘document is in history mode’, you cannot update it without help from the Government Digital Service (GDS). See the guidance on removing history mode for more details.

Add or remove images

Make sure you’ve correctly formatted the images before you add them.

Select the ‘Images’ tab at the top of the page. You can upload images here. Each image will need a different file name.

Once you upload an image, you’ll be given a ‘Markdown code’. You can copy and paste that into the body and the image will appear there.

If you want to remove an image, you can remove its code from the body. You can then upload a new version of the image and use its code instead.

If the tagged speaker or writer has a page on GOV.UK

The photo used on their people page will automatically be added as a ‘lead image’ at the top of the page.

Update their photo on their people page if it needs changing.

Attachments

You cannot add attachments to this content type. If you want to include a link to a file, think about whether you can upload it as a separate piece of content.

Change the ‘first published date’

You can change the first published date if the same content was available on another webpage before, like on another GOV.UK page you’re unpublishing or a campaign site you’re closing.

Under ‘First published date’, tick the ‘This document has previously been published on another website’ box. Select the new date.

The new date will show when you publish the draft.

Add or remove tags to organisations and events

You can tag your content under the ‘Associations’ heading. You do this by adding or removing associations.

These associations include:

  • topical events – use this if you want the content to appear on a topical event page
  • world locations – use this if you work for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and you want the content to appear on a world location news page
  • lead and supporting organisations – your own organisation will be set as a lead organisation as default, but you can change that or add any other organisations if they’re responsible for the content

Update settings of the draft

Under the ‘Settings’ heading, you can:

  • change the ‘Email address for ordering attachment files in an accessible format’
  • select ‘Schedule publication’, if you want the draft published at a certain time and date
  • select ‘Review date’, if you want to get an email asking you to check the content at a later date after you’ve published it

Add or remove topic tags

You need to tag your draft to at least one topic page before you can publish it.

Your content will appear on the tagged topic pages when:

  • the draft is published, if it’s new content
  • you save the new tagged topic pages, if you’re updating existing content

See the ‘Education, training and skills’ topic page for an example of what these topic pages look like.

To add tags:

  1. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’ on your current draft.
  2. Under the ‘Topic taxonomy tags’ heading, select ‘Add tags’ or ‘Change tags’.
  3. Tick the boxes next to each topic that applies. The arrows next to each topic will expand the topic out, showing all sub-topics in that topic ‘tree’.
  4. Select ‘Save’.

To remove tags, select ‘Remove topic’ next to the one you want to remove and then select ‘Save’.

Choose topic tags:

  • based only on what the content is about
  • from anywhere in the topic ‘tree’, not just the areas that your organisation uses the most

Try to choose the most specific topics you can.

You can tag your content to as many topic pages as are relevant. There’s no limit.

Add or edit translations

Add a new translation

Read the guidance about deciding whether to add a translation.

If you do want to add a translation:

  1. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’ on your current draft.
  2. Under the ‘Translations’ heading, select ‘Add translation’.
  3. Add the translated title, summary and body.
  4. Select ‘Save’.
  5. Check the translations are working by selecting ‘Preview translated pages’ under the ‘Preview’ heading.

If you’re adding a translation for a language that is written from right to left, there’s a different way to format links.

Edit an existing translation

  1. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’ on your current draft.
  2. Under the ‘Translations’ heading, select ‘Edit’ next to the relevant translation.
  3. Make the changes and select ‘Save’.

Update the URL

URLs are automatically created from the page title when you first publish the content. You might want to update the URL if there’s a spelling mistake or if it no longer reflects the content.

If the content has never been published before

You can update the draft title and the URL will change.

If the content has been published already

You can:

  1. Create a new piece of content with the desired title and URL.
  2. Copy over the current content to this new draft.
  3. Publish the new draft.
  4. Unpublish the page with the incorrect URL. When you unpublish it, you’ll be able to set up a redirect to the new page.

The change notes history will be lost if you do this. If you need to keep that history, contact the Government Digital Service (GDS) and ask them to change the URL instead.

Publish the draft

Find out how to send the draft for review.

If you need to publish it urgently without a review, find out when you can publish your own draft.