§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many official Christmas cards were sent out in 1993 by(a) Ministers, (b) civil servants and (c) staff of Government agencies working in or to his Department; and how much these cards cost (i) to buy, (ii) to post and (iii) in staff time to sign, address and place in envelopes.
§ Mr. SproatSome 2,500 Christmas cards were purchased by the Department of National Heritage at a cost of £628.76. Of these, some 1,100 were supplied to Ministers. The remaining cards were available for use by civil servants. Cards were dispatched at normal second class postal rate, or were sent via the Government inter-departmental service. It is not possible to quantify the cost in staff time to sign, address and envelope the cards.
I have asked the chief executive of the Historic Royal Palaces and the Royal Parks agencies to write to the hon. Member about the practices in their agencies.