§ Dr. WrightTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much public advertising has been undertaken to publicise the open government code; and at what cost. [6674]
§ Mr. WillettsThe code of practice on access to Government information came into force on 4 April 1994. In 1994–95, 52,000 copies of the Office of Public Service leaflet explaining the operation of the code and over 5,000 copies of the code of practice itself were distributed to organisations such as citizens advice bureaux and libraries, at a total cost including printing and distribution of £19,048.
In 1995–96, this leaflet has been redesigned, and is being made widely available. A display poster, advertising the code, has also been prepared. To date, some 70,000 standard English language leaflets, 2,500 posters and 122W 4,500 leaflets in formats for the visually impaired have been produced and distributed to public outlets as above. A further 30,000 standard English language leaflets, about 5,000 in formats for the visually impaired and about 30,000 in ethnic minority languages, are currently being produced, and will be distributed in January 1996. The total cost in 1995–96, including production and distribution, is expected to be around £80,000.
The code has also been publicised in the citizens charter "Report Back" newsletter, which was distributed by direct mailing in major cities in September and October 1995. The full code and the revised leaflet have also been made available on the Internet. These methods of advertising have involved no separate additional cost.
Individual Departments have issued press releases and made explanatory material tailored to their own circumstances available on request as follows:
Department Leaflets issued Expenditure Department for Education and Employment 195,000 1£22,981 Department of Environment not known *£170 Foreign and Commonwealth Office including Overseas Development Administration not known £1,970 Department of Health *30,000 2£3,135 Home Office 5,000 £1,350 Lord Chancellor's Department not known *£1,000 Northern Ireland Office 34,500 £2,945 Scottish Office not known *£100 Department of Social Security 4315,000 £13,324 Department of Trade and Industry 52,000 6£1,602 Department of Transport not known £1,338 Welsh Office 8,500 £2,881 Non-ministerial departments and agencies Charity Commissioners 7157,000 £14,981 Customs and Excise 12,000 £1,486 Data Protection Registrar not known £2,100 Office of Fair Trading not known 8£6,836 Inland Revenue 9not known £6,073 OFSTED not known *£200 OFWAT not known *£100 Entries marked with an asterisk are approximate figures.
1Includes £2,849 for Employment Service and £581 for Department for Education. Also includes £19,551 for 75,000 Health and Safety Executive leaflets.
2 Includes £500 for Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys.
3These were inserts to the OPS leaflet and were aimed at the public. Some of the money spent by NIO was also used on internal publicity for the Code of Practice.
4Includes braille, audio cassette and Welsh language versions. Distributed to local offices and Citizens' Advice Bureaux.
5Figure for 1995 only.
6Includes £970.65 in 1994, £352 in 1995 updating 1994 leaflet, and £380 on a series of Internet pages.
7Includes 5,000 Open Government leaflets in 1994 and 152,000 combined Open Government/general information leaflets in 1995.
8Cost of producing a Citizen's Charter booklet including information on the Open Government Code of Practice.
9Available at every Tax Office.