§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list for(a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000 and (e) 2000–01, (i) her Department's total spending on advertising campaigns, (ii) the cost of each individual advertising campaign and (iii) the criteria that were established to gauge the effectiveness of each campaign; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of each campaign based on these criteria. [142708]
§ Mr. StringerThe advertising spend for the Cabinet Office for the years 1997–2000 is listed as follows according to each campaign. Owing to changes in accounting systems the paid advertising figures for 1996–97 have to be recalculated, and I will write to the hon. Member with this information.
It is normal practice that the effectiveness of a campaign is only evaluated when the total cost of the campaign is over £250,000, as the cost of the research would otherwise be disproportionate to the total cost of the campaign. Only one of the Cabinet Office campaigns reached this threshold, and the effectiveness criteria were as set out.
Assessing the Effectiveness of the Millennium Bug Campaigns
The effectiveness of the June and November 1999 publicity campaigns was assessed via an on-going tracking study set up to measure awareness of, and attitudes to, the Millennium Bug. This study ran on a monthly basis through-out 1999 and a nationally representative sample of around 2000 adults aged 16+ were interviewed per month.
212WUsing the tracking study we were able to compare pre and post campaign waves of research to assess the effectiveness of each burst of publicity. The campaign was assessed in terms of:
- recall of publicity
- prompted recognition of campaign materials
- advertising communication
- readership and reactions to the booklet
- effect on attitudes towards the Bug.
Cabinet office billing £ COI Reference Campaign Title Amount 2000–01 JBK00054 GICS Recruitment 50,749 JMV00138 Fuel Crisis Information 9,984 JRA00072 Cabinet Office Fast Stream Recruitment 121,009 Total 181,742 1999–2000 JAM99057 Action 2000 Public Awareness 4,303,551 JRA99066 Cabinet Office Fast Stream Recruitment 82,266 JBK99095 Civil Service Pension Scheme 906 JBK99029 GICS Recruitment 9,849 Total 4,396,572 1998–99 JBK98034 GICS Recruitment 23,610 JBK98046 Party Political Funding 1,513 JBK98148 Commissioner for Public Appointments 7,272 Total 32,395 1997–98 JDG96018 Chartermark Awards 4,297 JOM96041 Open Government 70,658 JBK96061 Nolan Committee 21,618 JDG96121/141 Chartermark Literature 103,262 Total 199,835 Note:
All figures include COI loading, and exclude VAT