§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what will the the total spending of his Department on press and public relations in the current year; and what it was in 1979–80 and each intervening year.
§ Mr. Fowler[pursuant to his reply, 19 November 1986, c. 222]: Total spending by my Department's information division, including expenditure on advertising and promotional literature and full staff costs for the years requested are:
793W
£'000 1979–80 2,757 1980–81 2,445 1981–82 3,257 1982–83 4,012 1983–84 6,005 1984–85 6,832 1985–86 8,496 1986–87 118,000 1 Estimated. The increase in 1986–87 is largely attributable to spending on AIDS publicity.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what will be the estimated spending by his Department on television, radio and newspaper advertising, respectively, and other promotional literature in the current year; and what was the total in 1979–80 and each intervening year.
§ Mr. Fowler[pursuant to his reply, 19 November 1986, c. 222]: For figures on expenditure on newspapers and television advertising for 1979–80 to 1983–84, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Mr. Patten) on 14 May 1984 at columns 83–84. Figures for the 1984–85 financial year were given by my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Whitney) on 6 December 1985 at columns 402–403.
Figures for radio advertising and other promotional literature are as follows:
Year Radio £ Other promotional literature £ 1979–80 45,349 425,000 1980–81 37,757 290,883 1981–82 60,223 328,893 1982–83 54,260 366,032 1983–84 61,754 1,960,761 1984–85 — 3,248,605 Figures for newspapers, television, radio advertising and other promotional literature for 1985–86 are as follows:
£ Newspapers 3,187,795 Television 831,780 Radio 487,278 Other promotional literature 2,631,626 Estimated expenditure for 1986–87 is as follows:
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Private patients receiving treatment in NHS hospitals—1979 to 1985 Number of pay beds at 31 December Regional health authority, special health authorities/boards of governors1 1979 1980 1981 11982 1983 1984 1985 Northern 56 56 78 103 103 105 95 Yorkshire 140 140 154 182 199 199 193 Trent 130 130 150 143 143 143 138 East Anglian 90 90 94 106 106 108 108 North West Thames1 339 339 352 292 292 292 287 North East Thames1 278 278 286 398 404 410 413 South East Thames1 263 263 302 332 337 337 333 South West Thames1 156 156 168 180 182 194 182 Wessex 99 99 106 117 120 120 116 Oxford 164 164 180 180 180 180 183 South Western 78 78 82 102 104 104 102
£ Newspapers 5,936,000 Television 2,797,000 Radio 684,000 Other promotional literature 7,629,000
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many press and public relations staff are employed in his Department; and how many were employed in 1979–80 and each intervening year.
§ Mr. Fowler[pursuant to his reply, 19 November 1986, c. 222]: My Department has no section which can be separately identified as public relations. Functions commonly associated with public relations are carried out by information officers as part of their duties in the Department's information division.
The following table contains information relating to professional staff employed in the Department's press and publicity branch for the years requested.
Year Information officers in post 1979–80 21 1980–81 20 1981–82 20 1982–83 19 1983–84 18 1984–85 20 1985–86 24 1986–87 29