1. The purpose of this note is to explain why Government departments should not in future, as a matter of general policy, issue "opinion letters" on the powers of a particular department or authority to enter into a contract (usually a PFI contract) or on the authority of a particular official to sign the contract.
2. Lawyers acting for potential contractors or their lenders, as part of their legal due diligence work, have sometimes asked for such "opinion letters". Such requests can come at a very late stage before contracts are due to be signed. These letters are sometimes misleadingly referred to as "comfort letters" which has a specific and different commercial meaning