§ Mr. FabricantTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the cost of all research undertaken by his Department since May 1997, excluding the cost of green papers and other public consultation documents drafted by his officials; and if he will list in each case the organisations which undertook that research. [52694]
§ Mr. Geoffrey RobinsonI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 22 July 1998,Official Report, columns 581–82.
The organisations which undertook the research projects listed are as follows:
SA public information campaign: Research InternationalSA budget payments Plans: NOPTwo alcohol and tobacco smuggling surveys: Customs and Excise (Monitored by the Government Statistical service)Presentational aspects of the individual savings account: Fishburn HedgesPresentational aspects of the working families tax credit: Ogilvy and MatherVarious surveys of PEP/TESSA holders: NOP, ONS, MORI.The aggregate cost of the projects is £350,250. Pricing information can be commercially sensitive and the contractors have asked for certain individual project costs not to be disclosed. However, I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr. Gibb) on 19 May 1998, Official 294W Report, column 303 and on 30 March 1998, Official Report, column 441, which gave information on the individual costs of some of these projects.