§ Mr. Norman Fowlerasked the Minister for the Civil Service what is 296W the number of press and information officers employed by the Government, breaking down the total between Government Departments and giving an estimate of the cost of these civil servants.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe table below shows by Departments the numbers of staff in post in the information office group on 1st April 1978. About one-fifth of the group are engaged wholly or partly in dealings with the editiorial side of newspapers and broadcasting. The remainder are employed on a variety of work including films, exhibitions, export promotion, and censuses and surveys. It is estimated that the current salary cost of the group is £.7.9 million a year.
Departments Total Civil Service Department 16 Defence 151 Education and Science 18 Employment 22 Energy 27 Environment 57 Health and Social Security 19 Home Office 24 Industry 57 Central Office of Information 503 National Savings 11 Overseas Development 9 Population Censuses and Surveys 129 Prices and Consumer Protection 15 Trade 99 Transport 19 Treasury and Sub-Departments 12 Welsh Office 20 Scottish Office 23 Other Departments 115 Total 1,346