§ Mr. Bill MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the criteria by which it was decided to contract out the distribution of leaflet No. SFL 10 rather than using his Department; and how much this has cost.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe distribution of leaflet SFL1O to the Department's local and regional offices was arranged by the Central Office of Information to ensure rapid delivery of the publication, because the information it contained had a limited lifespan. A total of 467,000 leaflets were distributed in this way at a cost of £5,130. Half these leaflets were then distributed locally to other advice agencies by the Department at no further identifiable cost. In addition a quantity was held at ISCO 5, a sheltered warehouse, permanently contracted to the 303W Department for general print distribution, to service further demands from other organisations and individual members of the public. The cost of these individual requests cannot be separately identified.
§ Mr. Bill MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the cause of the insufficient supplies of leaflet SFL 10 being available for community advice organisations for distribution to their clients.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardWe are not aware that insufficient supplies of SFL10 were available. The Department produced 600,000 copies to meet the likely demand for this short-life leaflet. A total of 450,000 were distributed to DSS local offices. They were either retained at local offices for direct distribution or were issued by them to local agencies and advice organisations.