§ Mr. Jim Spicerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advertising agents have been appointed by his Department, or by the Central Office of Information on behalf of his Department, to handle campaigns involving the communication of information on subjects for which his Department is responsible to Parliament over each of the last 10 years, respectively; what was the subject of each campaign; and how much was spent on each campaign.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Treasury has incurred expenditure on the employment of advertising agents on four occasions since 1980 for work in connection with privatisation: the sale of BP in 1983, the sales of Cable and Wireless in 1983 and 1985, and the sale of Britoil in 1985. The agents employed are as follows
BP 1983 —St. James's Advertising & Street's AdvertisingCable and Wireless 1983 —Street's Financial Advertising769WBritoil 1985—Dewe Rogerson LtdCable and Wireless 1985 —Collett Dickinson, Pearce and Partners LtdIt is not the practice to disclose the value of individual contracts between the Government and their advisers.
I regret that information about years before 1980 cannot be provided without a disproportionate expenditure of time and resources.