§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many information officers are currently employed by his Department; at what cost; and if he will give these figures in respect of each of the last four years.
§ Mr. FowlerThe information officer group, in addition to press and public relations officers, includes information specialists in all forms of publicity. My department currently employs 11 staff who are mainly involved on the press and public relations side and seven who are mainly involved on the publicity side. The annual salary and national insurance cost of these 18 staff is £274,000. Comparable figures in previous years are as follows:
1 January 1980 20 £210,000 1 January 1979 21 £185,000 1 January 1978 19 £156,000 1 January 1977 20 £158,000