HC Deb 24 April 1978 vol 948 c418W
Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Minister for the Civil Service, with reference to his answer of 23rd March 1978, Official Report, column 680, to the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Atkinson), if he will list the advertising agencies that gave hospitality to civil servants, the kind of hospitality involved, the number of occasions it was given, the number and status of the civil servants involved and the purpose of the hospitality.

Mr. Charles R. Morris

No central records are kept of the number of times advertising agencies make contact with Government Departments and offer hospitality, or of when such hospitality is accepted. As far as the Departments for which I have responsibility are concerned, as I told my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Atkinson) on 23rd March, I am informed that officials who have contact with advertising agencies accept occasional reasonable conventional hospitality—for example, working lunches—only in strict accordance with the rules governing the acceptance of hospitality by civil servants.