§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the total expenditure of his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on publicity for each of the years(a) 1979–80, (b) 1989–90, (c) 1991–92, (d) 1993–94, (e) 1994–95 and (f) 1995–96 (i) to date and (ii) as estimated for the whole year; what estimate he has made of such expenditure for 1996–97; and if he will break these figures down to indicate expenditure on (1) advertising and (2) press and public relations. [11384]
§ Mr. HowardPublicity expenditure is committed when there is a need to advise the public or inform them of their rights. Assessment takes account of policy objectives and prioritisation within available resources.
Advertising and press office staff, accommodation and administration costs for my Department are as follows for 1979–80 to 1988–89:
500W
Year Advertising Press 1979–80 2,904,671 283,140 1980–81 1,649,605 392,532 1981–82 1,834,476 381,799
Year Advertising Press 1982–83 1,957,304 424,290 1983–84 2,760,681 516,632 1984–85 3,262,700 560,512 1985–86 3,306,391 606,996 1986–87 5,000,000 548,136 1987–88 4,700,000 599,282 1988–89 5,400,000 674,945 From 1989–90 onwards, recording systems were improved to identify advertising and other publicity material such as publications, videos, exhibitions and posters:
Year Advertising Other publicity material Press 1989–90 5,500,000 3,088,065 715,646 1990–91 5,728,000 4,323,476 786,519 1991–92 7,275,940 3,600,288 792,125 1992–93 7,334,635 5,638,982 835,441 1993–94 9,090,222 5,062,327 847,632 1994–95 10,912,008 3,190,350 899,084 1995–961 7,398,629 1,387,550 727,169 1995–962 7,398,629' 3,387,550 969,560 1996–972 4,150,000 3,750,000 993,799 1Year to date 2Forecast Press and publicity expenditure by my Department's Agencies was as follows:
Agency/Year Advertising and publicity material Press Prison Service 1993–94 206,900 304,800 1994–95 200,500 594,900 1995–96 forecast 228,400 319,900 1996–97 forecast 213,300 318,200 Fire Service College 1992–93 89,300 — 1993–94 55,700 — 1994–95 34,600 — 1995–96 forecast 24,370 6,000 1996–97 forecast 30,000 6,000 Passport Agency 1991–92 70,357 62,492 1992–93 67,454 56,880 1993–94 70,945 68,981 1994–95 127,040 256,693 1995–96 forecast 94,814 160,701 1996–97 Budgets not yet decided Forensic Science Service Under the Forensic Science Service agency's framework, document, press and publicity services are provided by the Home Office. These are marginal and are included in the Departmental spend. It has not been possible in the time available for agencies to provide precise 1995–96 year to date figures, but they expect no substantial divergence from forecast.
I shall write to the hon. Member concerning publicity and press expenditure by my Department's non-departmental public bodies.