§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Energy what arrangements there are in his Department to monitor regional news programmes on television and local radio to keep him, and senior civil servants, informed of regional news and opinions.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonThe Department has a contract with a commercial monitoring agency which informs it of regional radio and television news programmes which have carried items likely to be of interest to the Department.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Energy how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased each day by his Department in order to keep himself, and senior civil servants informed and how many copies of each paper purchased are northern editions: The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Mirror, respectively.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonThe numbers of copies of each of the papers specified that are purchased each day by my Department for circulation to Ministers and to senior civil servants are as follows:
None of these is a northern edition.
Guardian … … … 10 Daily Telegraph … … 7 Daily Mail … … … 7 Daily Express … … … 7 Daily Mirror … … … 7 An internal Press cuttings service disseminates within my Department information of interest which appears in these 285W and other national, region papers that my Department also purchases, and local papers. The Press cuttings service of my Department's Offshore Supplies Office, Glasgow purchases one copy of the northern editions of the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) how many copies of each weekly and biweekly newspaper published within Greater Manchester are purchased by his Department to keep himself, and senior civil servants, informed of regional news and opinions;
(2) how many copies of each evening newspaper published in the North-West of England are purchased by his Department to keep himself, and senior civil servants, informed of regional news and opinions.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonNone. However, regional offices of the COI ensure that my Department is kept informed of Press comment likely to be of interest to it. Such information is widely circulated within my Department.