§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the number of Press officers, Press liaison officers and public relations officials etc. employed by Government Departments in each year since 1964 together with the cost to public funds.
§ Mr. Charles R. Morris,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 26th July 1976; Vol. 916, c.2],gave the following information:
The following figures show the number of staff in the Information Officer Group. They are engaged on a variety of duties including general Government publicity, Press Office works, recruitment advertising, exhibitions, internal information and making films.
1964 … … … … 992½ 1965 … … … … 992½ 1966 … … … … 1,040½ 1967 … … … … 1.117½ 1968 … … … … 1.180 1969 … … … … 1,204 1970 … … … … 1,239 1971 … … … … 1,291½ 1972 … … … … 1,276½ 1973 … … … … 1,247 1974 … … … … 1,307 1975 … … … … 1,367 1976 … … … … 1,473 It is not possible to provide an analysis showing the duties performed by particular Information Officers without disproportionate cost. Information on costs and on numbers of staff of information branches not in the Information Officer Group is not available centrally.