§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Health which advertising agency has been advising in respect of health service publicity; and what brief it was given.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe two advertising agencies appointed following advice from the Government's Independent Advisory Committee on Advertising and currently used by the Department are TBWA Advertising Ltd and Yellowhammer.
TBWA Advertising Ltd advised on advertising campaigns to recruit nurses and to raise awareness of the need for blood and organ donors. Yellowhammer advises on the national campaign on the prevention of drug misuse.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what budget he has authorised to pay for the advertising, publication and distribution costs of the leaflets to be published by his Department to explain the Government's health service reforms; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe cost of the production and distribution of "The NHS Reforms and You" booklet is estimated at £2.75 million; this works out at 10p per household, which is good value bearing in mind that the average family spends £35 per week on the NHS. This cost includes the distribution of the booklet to each household in England and nine ethnic minority language versions which are available on request. The languages are Bengali, Cantonese, Greek, Gujerati, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu.
There are no plans to advertise the booklet.