§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contracts the Inland Revenue has with Adlids; what are the costs, nature and duration of these contracts; what procedures were used to enter into the contracts; and what assessment the Inland Revenue has made of the benefits of the contracts with Adlids. [18003]
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 28 February 1997]: The Inland Revenue made a one-off payment of £30,000 for self-assessment information to be printed on 3 million take-away lids.
The "contract" was negotiated via Ardent, one of a number of promotions agencies working on a range of projects to help target self-assessment information to those affected. A 50 per cent. discount was negotiated on normal rates charged by Adlids.
According to research, 60 per cent. of self-employed manual trades people, a key audience for self-assessment information, regularly eat Chinese take-aways. At the cost of 1p per lid, this was a cost-effective and highly targeted way of delivering self-assessment information in an unusual and striking way.
495WBesides the lids themselves being seen by those likely to be affected by self-assessment, the idea achieved some very positive press coverage.