HC Deb 18 January 2002 vol 378 c524W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the expenditure of his(a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies on newspaper advertising by title in each year since 1997. [26987]

Mr. MacShane

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 19 November 2001,Official Report, column 24W.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, its executive non-departmental public bodies and executive agency have routinely advertised in the domestic press for recruitment purposes. Other than that, expenditure incurred was:

  • 2001–02: £2,650—Metro (London), The Voice, Time Out1
  • 2000–01: £8,589—Metro (London)2
  • 1999–2000: Nil
  • 1998–99: Nil
  • 1997–98: Nil.

1 Promoting the "Know Before You Go" consular campaign.

2 Publicising an FCO open day.

In addition, the British Council has advertised for such activities as teacher exchanges, language assistants and conference promotion. Accurate figures by year are not available. But from 1997 to 2001 the total expenditure was £16,400. The expenditure from April 2001 to date is £6,565. The titles used were The Times Educational Supplement (mainly) and The Guardian newspaper.