§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Prime Minister if she will list those bodies set up by the Government which have employed Saatchi and Saatchi Ltd. for advertising purposes; what have been the nature of the advertisements and the cost of each.
§ The Prime MinisterThe majority of non-Exchequer bodies deal direct with a wide variety of advertising agencies. Of these bodies, I understand that British Airways, British Rail, and the Health Education Council have accounts with Saatchi and Saatchi. Government Departments deal with advertising agencies through the Central Office of Information, and without incurring disproportionate cost it is only possible to give more details of the advertising contracted in this way.
By this route, Saatchi and Saatchi have been employed on behalf of the Manpower Services Commission to advertise its youth opportunities programme, under a contract let by the previous Administration in October 1977. To identify individual advertisements would involve disproportionate cost, but the annual expenditure with the agency has been:
£ 1977–78 217,600 1978–79 745,000 1979–80 271,100 1980–81 869,000 1981–82 782,500 1982–83 2,010,000* * Estimated.