§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what was the total spending by his Department on press and public relations in 1986–87; and what is the estimated expenditure for the current year;
(2) what was the total spending by his Department on television, radio and newspaper advertising and other promotional literature in 1986–87; and what is the estimated expenditure for the current year.
§ Mr. Moore[pursuant to his reply, 17 July 1987, c.667]: My Department has no section which can be separately identified as public relations. Functions which arc commonly associated with public relations are carried out by the Department's information division.
Total spending by my Department's information division in 1986–87 was as follows:
£ Advertising and promotional literature 19,200,000 Professional manpower 936,000 Estimates for the 1987–88 year are as follows:
£ Advertising and promotional literature 28,800,000 Professional manpower 994,000 Figures for the total spending by my Department on television, radio and newspaper advertising (but not cinema or poster advertising) and other literature in 1986–87 are as follows:
776WThe information requested on revenue expenditure is shown in the following table. Provisional expenditure figures for 1986–87 are also shown. Comparable figures for 1987–88 will not be available until after the end of the financial year. The initial 1987–88 revenue allocations which the districts received from the West Midlands regional health authority are given in the table. However these allocation figures are not comparable with the expenditure figures shown for earlier years; in particular, they exclude income generated by the authorities themselves.
£ Television 2,345,000 Radio 771,000 Newspapers 5,570,000 Other promotional literature 8,488,000 Total 17,174,000 Estimates for the 1987–88 year are as follows:
£ Television 7,688,000 Radio 1,420,000 Newspapers 8,232,000 Other promotional literature 6,720,000 Total 24,040,000 Social security spending in the 1986–87 financial year centred on the changes arising from the reform of social security. In addition to the routine amendments to benefit literature, campaigns were mounted to advise potential beneficiaries of changed entitlements to maternity and invalid care allowances and the provision for extra help with heating costs because of the exceptionally cold weather.
Estimated expenditure for the 1987–88 financial year on advertising and promotional literature includes £11 million to explain and introduce the reform of social security. Approximately half of this figure will be for literature explaining the benefits. The balance will be spent on advertising to bring the changes to the attention of the public.
777WThe major elements in health publicity spending in 1986–87 and that planned for 1987–88 include: public education campaigns on AIDS, drugs misuse, teenage anti-smoking, breast and cervical cancer and advice for people travelling abroad; together with recruitment campaigns for nurses, other NHS staff groups and blood donors.