HC Deb 30 January 1996 vol 270 cc690-2W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what estimate she has made of the annual telephone costs to(a) her Department, (b) her Department's agencies and (c) her Department's non-departmental public bodies staff for each of the years (i) 1991–92, (ii) 1993–94, (iii) 1994 –95, (iv) 1995–96 and (v) 1996–97; and if internal telephone directories are available to staff in all areas of (a) to (c). [11342]

Mr. Sproat

[holding answer 25 January 1996]: While all the information requested is not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, the available information is as follows:

1993–94 actual £ 1994–95 actual £ 1995–96 estimate £ 1996–97 estimate £
Department of National Heritage 168,000 203,598 257,000 n/a
Historic Royal Palaces Agency 109,702 158,349 158,824 202,000
Royal Parks Agency 163,031 190,871 196,000 160,000

My Department makes use of CCTA's metropolitan telephone service, which provides us with fully managed telephone and directory services. Internal telephone directories are available to staff in my Department and both agencies.

1993–94 actual £ 1994–95 actual £ 1995–96 spend to date £ 1995–96 estimate £ 1996–97 estimate £
Department of National Heritage 1,547,360 467,497 276,376 460,000 n/a
Historic Royal Palaces Agency 3,708,000 1,381,000 282,000 545,000 n/a
Royal Parks Agency 748,195 848,033 486,427 810,000 750,000

Information on non-departmental public bodies is not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what assessment she has made of the total expenditure of her Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on publicity for each of the years(a) 1991–92, (b) 1993–94, (c) 1994–95 and

1993–94 (actual) £ 1994–95 (actual) £ 1995–96 (spend to date) £ 1995–96 (estimate) £ 1996–97 (estimate) £
Department of National Heritage 103,850 57,000 192,353 302,000 n/a
Advertising Nil Nil Nil Nil n/a
Press and PR 78,850 Nil 5,352 Nil n/a
Historic Royal Palaces Agency 1,161,047 1,065,018 1,250,742 1,245,742 n/a
Advertising 1,019,047 955,417 1,140,516 1,120,516 n/a
Press and PR 102,000 88,000 90,000 105,000 n/a
Royal Parks Agency 46,240 52,459 65,110 103,672 107,610
Advertising 240 2,262 1,063 1,063 1,500
Press and PR Nil 5,197 12,547 19,109 19,110

Information on DNH non-departmental public bodies is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The Government telephone network connects over 1,000 Government offices nationwide. As a user of the GTN, a GTN dialling codes booklet is also available to all members of staff in this Department.

Mr. Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what assessment she has made of the expenditure of her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on all external consultants including management consultants for each of the years(a) 1991–92, (b) 1993–94, (c) 1994–95 and (d) 1995–96 (i) to date and (ii) as estimated for the whole year; what estimate she has made of such expenditure for 1996–97; and if she will estimate the savings accruing to her Department from the use of consultants in each of these years. [11339]

Mr. Sproat

[holding answer 25 January 1996]: My Department uses consultants for a wide variety of tasks, only a small proportion of which are aimed at achieving cost savings. No central record is held on overall savings and it would not be possible to isolate those consultancies and quantify the cost savings without incurring disproportionate cost. The available information is given in the following table:

(d) 1995–96 (i) to date and (ii) as estimated for the whole year; what estimate she has made of such expenditure for 1996–97; and if she will break these figures down to indicate expenditure on (1) advertising and (2) press and public relations. [11340]

Mr. Sproat

[holding answer 25 January 1996]: While all the information requested is not available, the available figures are as follows: