§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list(a) the cost of establishing and (b) the annual running cost of his communications planning unit; for what reason the unit is to be financed from public funds; and if he will make a statement. [41164]
§ Mr. DobsonAs endorsed in the Report of the Working Group on the Government Information Service (Mountfield Report), the Department's communications planning unit was set up to provide better co-ordination of news handling. The total basic staff cost of the unit is estimated at £86,000, which is from existing running costs. All the staff involved were already employed by the Department.