§ Mr. Trotterasked the Prime Minister what is the current cost of his public relations department; what were the figures both for cost and staff for each of the last 10 years; and what will be the effect of his recent proposal to extend the public relations department.
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§ The Prime MinisterThe estimated salary cost of the Press Office at No. 10 Downing Street for 1975–76 is £51,000. The average number of staff employed in the Press Office for each of the last 10 years and the estimated salary cost, where available, is as follows:
Year (ending 31st March) Number of Staff Cost £ 1965–66 … … 6 — 1966–67 … … 7 — 1967–68 … … 7 — 1968–69 … … 7 — 1969–70 … … 8 22,000 1970–71 … … 11 35,000 1971–72 … … 11 38,000 1972–73 … … 11 43,000 1973–74 … … 11 52,000 1974–75 … … 9 53,000 If no reduction had been made in March 1974 in the staff employed, the salary costs for 1974–75 would have been £61,000 and the current salary costs would be about £70,000.
There has been no proposal to extend the staff of the Downing Street Press Office. If the hon. Member is referring to the decision to establish a Counter-Inflation Publicity Unit to serve the Government as a whole, it is not yet possible to determine the effect of that decision in terms of costs and staff.