§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by(a) his Department and (b) bodies for which it is responsible on external public relations consultants in each of the last four years. [27399]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownThe Department (including the former DSS and the part of the former DfEE which are now the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions) incurred the following expenditure on public relations consultancies since 1998–99:
£ 1998–99 342,440 1999–2000 317,267 2000–01 1 201,811 2001–02 2 234,000 1 Includes £45,607 (rounded up to £46,000 for the new deal also included in the written answer to the hon. Member by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Young People and Learning (Mr. Lewis) on 25 January 2002, Official Report, column 1130W. 2 To end November. Note:
Agencies of the Department registered no expenditure on public relations consultancies over the last four years.