§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of his Department's expenditure on publicity and advertising in relation to tobacco issues, in each year from 1990–91 to 2003–04 (planned); what value for money assessment of it has been carried out; and if he will make a statement. [103702]
§ Ms BlearsFor the period 1990–91 to 1998–99 public education campaigns were run by the Health Education Authority. The Department of Health took over this work in 1999–2000.
The spend in the last four financial years is shown in the table. The total budget for 2003–04 is still to be confirmed.
190W
£ million Total spend on publicity Amount spent on advertising 1999–2000 15.5 6.18 2000–01 13.73 8.97
£ million Total spend on publicity Amount spent on advertising 2001–02 12.3 7.79 2002–03 13 7.8731 1 Amount currently scheduled to be spent on advertising The non-advertising expenditure funds campaign literature, specialist helplines for smokers, campaign website, research and specialist campaigns targeting other key audiences such as pregnant smokers and young people.
It is difficult to isolate the success of the education campaign due to other factors at work such as prices, incomes, social trends etc. However, a number of different measures are in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Don't Give Up Giving Up" advertising campaign. These include prevalence surveys, quarterly tracking research, monitoring calls to the national health service smoking helpline, evaluation of media coverage and helpline referrals to local services.