§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent by(a) her Department and (b) bodies for which it is responsible on external public relations consultants in each of the last four years. [27387]
§ Mr. MorleyAs DEFRA was created in June 2001, retrospective information prior to that date does not exist for the Department. Information on such expenditure by DEFRA's agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
There have been three DEFRA managed campaigns where PR consultants were employed. The costs of their services over the past financial year were as follows:
'Are you Doing your Bit?' campaign—£12,000UK's Emissions Trading Scheme campaign—E95,000'Your Countryside, You're Welcome' campaign—£210,000.The delay in supplying this answer to the hon. Gentleman is regretted.