§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Transport what lessons he draws from the experiment during Christmas 1982 to stop television drink-drive campaigns in three independent television regions; and why the campaigns will be carried out in all regions this Christmas.
§ Mrs. ChalkerLast Christmas our national drink-drive advertising campaign was deferred until February this year in three television areas in an attempt to provide a control against which the impact of our publicity could be assessed.
In the event intensive local publicity within the control areas made it difficult to draw firm conclusions as to the effect of the national advertising. What did emerge, however, was the very considerable contribution that local agencies—police, local authorities and local press and radio—can together make in this field and we have decided to develop this approach further in our 1983 campaign. Following consultations with the police and other local organisations, a television advertising campaign started on 5 December throughout the country, drawing attention to police enforcement activity, and providing scope for simultaneous publicity initiatives on the part of local agencies.