Publicity (Hansard, 25 February 1997)

Mr. John M. Taylor

[holding answer 11 February 1997]: For the agencies, responsibility for expenditure on these areas and for staff resources devoted to them lies with the chief executives. I have asked them to reply direct. The information requested in respect of my Department's non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 25 February 1997: You asked the President of the Board of Trade two questions about the Department of Trade and Industry's expenditure on contractors to provide publicity and news services; and on staff employed to provide publicity and work on press and media. I am replying in relation to The Insolvency Service. Official Receivers have a statutory obligation to advertise each compulsory corporate and personal insolvency in the London Gazette and one other newspaper; but this is not a Departmental expense as it is funded by the estate of the insolvent company/individual. Generally publicity material for The Insolvency Service is provided via the Department's central press office. This includes all press releases and notice of publication of for example the Insolvency General Annual Report and The Service's Agency Annual Report and Accounts. The Central Office of Information deals with publicity for Company Directors Disqualification matters. Costs charged to The Insolvency Service for the last two years have been:

1994/95: Nil
1995/96: £34,996.

Figures for earlier years could only be provided at disproportionate cost. 178W The 1996/97 figures will not be available until the end of the current financial year. There are no staff employed full-time or part-time specifically to provide publicity and or to work on press and media issues. Any such work falls within general staff duties.

Letter from John Holden to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 25 February 1997: You recently asked the President of the Board of Trade about expenditure on publicity and news services. I am replying in respect of Companies House Executive Agency. External expenditure on publicity, including paid advertising, for each of the financial years since 1991–92 is set out below:

1991–92: £332,000
1992–93: £445,000
1993–94: £307,000
1994–95: £367,000
1995–96: £353,000.

These figures include the costs of various campaigns to encourage companies and their directors to meet their obligations to file promptly at Companies House. The staff effort devoted to publicity and press media activities has been approximately 3 full-time equivalents throughout the period. However this includes effort devoted to activities such as preparation of the Companies House Annual Report and Accounts, which currently derives from a statutory requirement, and other related matters. This is equivalent to a financial cost of some £75,000 a year. I regret that information about earlier years is only available at disproportionate cost.

Letter from P. R. S. Hartnack to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 25 February 1997: I am replying for the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Questions to the President of the Board of Trade on the use of contractors for publicity and news services and on the cost of civil service staff employed on such activities. Publicity press and media relations are part of the Patent Office's work on marketing and information. This work ranges from a Central Enquiry Unit which responds to questions from intellectual property specialists and the general public to a programme of Roadshows around Britain aimed at stimulating interest in patents and trade marks. In line with Government policy much of the specialised work connected with marketing and publicity is contracted out to the private sector. In 1995 the Patent Office's marketing and information work was reorganised and the expenditure on this activity in 1995/96 and subsequent years was as follows:

	Contracted out £	Total budget including civil service staff costs £
1995–96	338,000	1,012,000
1996–97	309,000	948,000
1997–98¹	294,000	935,000
¹ Planned.

I regret that figures for 1979/80 onwards could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However the figures would not be directly comparable because of various reorganisations that have taken place in that time.

Letter from Seton Bennett to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 25 February 1997The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your questions about expenditure on contractors and employed staff providing publicity and news services. 179W This Agency does not employ contractors to provide these services, neither are there any full-time or part-time staff employed solely for such work. Three full-time staff have publicity activities included in their job descriptions among other responsibilities. It is therefore not possible to separate the cost associated with publicity and media work.

Letter from Jim Norton to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 25 February 1997: The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Corporate and Consumer Affairs, John Taylor, MP, has asked me to reply, on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency, to your two questions concerning expenditure by contractors, and staff employment, in respect of publicity and news services since 1979–80. I am unable to supply any information before the inception of the Agency on 1st April 1990, prior to which the work of this Agency was undertaken by a Division of the Department of Trade and Industry. PQ 96/1170 - To ask the President of the Board of Trade, what was his Department's expenditure on contracts to provide publicity and news services for each Agency and non-departmental public body in each year since 1979–80. I am unable to provide a detailed breakdown with respect to the individual amounts spent by contractors on behalf of publicity and news services for the Agency since 1990, but I have listed below the total Agency expenditures for these combined items in each financial year. It is the Agency's policy to retain contractors to provide the bulk of the Agency's requirements for publicity and I can confirm that the majority of the expenditure shown was incurred by contractors on behalf of the Agency.

Publicity and news service expenditure
Financial year	£
1990–91	140,511
1991–92	188,695
1992–93	228,123
1993–94	188,706
1994–95	211,634
1995–96	369,732

PQ96/1176 - To ask the President of the Board of Trade, what was his Department's expenditure on staff employed full-time and part-time in each Agency and non-departmental public body to provide a) publicity and b) work on press and media in each year since 1979–80. From 1 April 1990 until December 1993, the Agency employed one member of staff on publicity matters, which was increased to two members of staff from January 1994. I am unable to provide a breakdown of staff salaries for the period, but the current costs are in the region £44,000.