§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those occasions since 1 May 1997 on which his Department has used outside agencies for(a) rebranding and (b) advertising purposes; what the costs were; and if he will make a statement. [156272]
§ Mr. Wilson[holding answer 30 March 2001]: British Trade International, which reports jointly to FCO and DTI Ministers, has employed outside agencies for branding and advertising purposes. Its two operating units are Trade Partners UK and Invest UK (formerly the Invest in Britain Bureau).
253W(a) Trade Partners UK: established in May 2000, it has used outside agencies for (i) branding on one occasion, and (ii) advertising on two occasions. The costs were:
£ Branding Advertising 1999–2000 250,000 350,000 2000–01 0 1,400,000 (b) Invest UK: it has used outside agencies for (i) rebranding on one occasion, the work being spread over three years, and (ii) advertising on numerous occasions, largely overseas, to market the United Kingdom as an inward investment location. The costs were:
£ Branding Advertising 1997–98 0 1,225,000 1998–99 145,000 1,187,000 1999–2000 95,000 1,344,000 2000–01 140,000 1,536,000 In 1998, the FCO employed outside agencies as part of a £1 million publicity campaign to reduce the number of ticketless fans travelling to France for the World Cup finals and to explain what consular services were available.
Later this year, we will be launching a public awareness campaign to encourage British travellers to be better prepared when travelling overseas. We have appointed an outside agency to undertake this work. The cost of public relations activity, which is to include press and radio advertising, will be £255,000.
The FCO has also used outside agencies to assist with routine advertising in the domestic press for recruitment purposes. There have been between 200 and 250 recruitment campaigns. It would involve disproportionate costs to establish a breakdown of expenditure.