HC Deb 05 November 1991 vol 198 cc78-80W
Mr. Dobson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give separate figures for the spending by his Department on(a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979–80 and in each following year; and what are his latest estimates for 1991–92 and budgets for 1992–93.

Mr. Curry

Expenditure by the Department in the financial year 1982–83 and each subsequent year was as follows:

Television Radio Press advertising Other publicity material
£ £ £ £
1982–83 Nil Nil 3,000 n/a
1983–84 Nil Nil 27,000 n/a
1984–85 Nil Nil 26,000 575,000
1985–86 Nil Nil 29,000 656,000
1986–87 Nil Nil 54,000 825,000
1987–88 Nil Nil 12,000 693,000
1988–89 Nil Nil 380,000 1,004,000
1989–90 Nil Nil 116,000 2,373,000
1990–91 Nil Nil 53,000 2,379,000
11991–92 157,000 Nil 108,000 4,135,000
1 Forecast.

Figures for publicity advertising prior to 1982–83 are not available as the information for those years includes recruitment and other types of advertising. Information is not readily available to distinguish between expenditure on advertising in newspapers and that in the press generally.

Separate figures for expenditure on other publicity material prior to 1984–85 are available only at disproportionate cost. A figure for the overall publicity budget for 1992–93 is not yet available.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide an up-to-date list of each television advertising campaign carried out, or to be carried out, by his Department during 1991–92, and of each other publicity campaign costing more than £100,000, giving for each(a) the topic, (b) the commencement date, (c) the duration and (d) the advertising, promotional and public relations companies involved.

Mr. Curry

Publicising the new "Food Sense" series of publications, launched in August this year, will include limited regional TV advertising in 1991–92. The production has been undertaken by Coleman RSCG, who were commissioned by the Central Office of Information.

A touring exhibition carried consumer information, on a wide range of food safety and environmental issues, to major shopping centres and agricultural shows between May and October this year. The exhibition was produced by Interactive Learning Productions of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total expenditure by his Department on press and public relations in 1979–80 and in each following year; and what is his estimate for 1991–92 and budget for 1992–93.

Mr. Curry

The information required for the financial years 1979–80 to 1983–84 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The figures for the subsequent years are as follows:—

Year Television advertising Radio advertising Newspaper advertising Other promotional material
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
1982–83 1,620 1,629
1983–84 96 13 2,182 1,698
1984–85 147 154 3,153 2,133

£ million
1984–85 3.2
1985–86 3.5
1986–87 3.0
1987–88 0.6
1988–89 0.8
1989–90 1.1
1990–91 0.5
1991–92 0.5

Figures for the years 1984–85 to 1986–87 refer to the total cost of press services and paid publicity which could be separated to show expenditure on press services only at disproportionate cost. Figures for 1987–88 to 1991–92 relate to press services alone. The budget for press services for 1992–93 is not yet available.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his Department has sent unsolicited direct mail as part of the distribution of publicity material.

Mr. Curry

No.