§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been employed by his Department's press and public relations office in each of the past five years; and what has been the annual budget for that office over the same period.
§ Mr. Tom KingThe number of staff in information officer grades employed in the information service of the Northern Ireland Office on 1 January in the past five years is as follows:
Northern Ireland Office (London) Northern Ireland Office (Belfast) and Northern Ireland Departments 1985 4 14 1984 4 15 1983 3 15 1982 4 15 1981 5 15 These officers were supported by the following number of staff in the administrative, clerical and other grades:
315W
Northern Ireland Office (London) Northern Ireland Office (Belfast) and Northern Ireland Departments 1985 3 16 1984 3 16 1983 4 16 1982 4 17 1981 4 19 The actual expenditure on general promotional activities in the last five financial years by the part of the information service which covers the Northern Ireland Office (Belfast) and Northern Ireland Departments was as follows:
316W
£ 1984–85 130,256 1983–84 124,257
£ 1982–83 140,594 1981–82 129,349 1980–81 181,931 Information about expenditure by members of the information service in London has not been kept separately and could be extracted only at disproportionate cost.