§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will set out his proposals on the London referendum campaign; if he will make a statement on the costs of(a) his Department's White Paper and (b) publicity campaigns in respect of the referendum; and if he will list the other costs to public funds incurred to date in respect of the proposals. [20409]
§ Mr. Raynsford[holding answer 15 December 1997]: It is our intention that the London referendum campaign should inform Londoners of what it is they will be voting on and encourage them to use their vote. The early part of the campaign will highlight, in particular, the availability of votes by post or proxy. The campaign will be factual and neutral. The Government will not provide any state aid to campaigns either for or against the proposal.
The budget allocation for the White Paper is £350,000, which includes the cost of distributing a summary leaflet to every household in London, translating the leaflet in eight languages in addition to English, and producing versions of the leaflet in braille, large print and audio cassette formats.
The total budget allocation for the referendum publicity campaign, including back-up services, is £950,000.
Expenditure incurred to date in respect of our proposals for the Greater London Authority totals an estimated £204,500. This includes £75,000 on the Green Paper and associated summary leaflet, £16,000 on other research, £13,500 on factfinding trips to America, Germany and Spain and approximately £100,000 on departmental staff costs.