§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total cost of running the Department's press office was in(a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [46799]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 10 April 2002]: Retrospective information for 1996–97 can not be supplied as DEFRA did not exist prior to June 2001.
Our records show a total operational running cost for the DEFRA Press Office, for the financial year 2001–02 of £1.6 million.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many press releases were issued by her Department or its predecessor(a) between 1 May and 31 December 1997 and (b) in each year from 1998 to 2001 inclusive. [40044]
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA was created in June 2001. For the period ending the 31 Dec 2001 the Press Office issued 319 press releases.
Retrospective identification and enumeration of the press releases issued prior to June 2001 by the Home Office and the former DETR and MAFF Press Offices on policy subjects now covered by DEFRA would be disproportionately costly to produce.
§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many press officers there were in her Department on(a) 1 May 1997 and (b) the latest available date. [46891]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 10 April 2002]: DEFRA, as a Department, did not exist prior to June 2001. The DEFRA Press Office is responsible for providing media
890W
Contract Project title Start End Specialion, bioavailability, biopotency and functional markers for D vitamers 1 June 1998 31 March 1999 Development of methods to detect protein standardisation of cows' drinking milk 1 September 1998 30 November 1999 Methods for the detection of rectified grape and apple juice in fruit juices 1 April 1999 30 September 1999 The immunological determination of meat content 1 May 1997 31 October 1998 Evaluation of a DNA Method for Meat Species Identification 1 April 1997 31 March 1998 A novel method for the detection of neuronal tissue from beef by the identification of tissue specific DNA modification 1 April 1997 30 September 1998 Differentiation of species of meat in particular cooked products by DNA methods 1 April 1998 30 September 1999 Evaluation of a suite of methods to distinguish cheese analogues from genuine cheese 1 April 1998 31 March 1999 Optimisation and validation of DNA assay for detect of select non-muscle tissues in meat products using tissue specific DNA modification 1 November 1998 30 November 1999 Vitamin B6 improvements in extraction and determination—Resolving inaccuracy and bias from its measurement 1 April 1997 31 March 1998 Development and validation of two analytical procedures for the quantitative determination of fatty acids 1 April 1997 31 March 1998 Further studies on the determination of heme and non-heme iron 1 April 1998 31 March 1999 Develop and validate a routine HPLC method for the determination of folates and folic acid in foods 1 April 1999 30 June 2000 Development and validation of rapid viable pathogen testing and enumeration by a simple and low cost new method 1 October 1997 23 August 1998 An improved analytical method for gellan gum 1 June 1998 31 March 1999 Development and validation of procedures to detect and quantify the use of dimethyl dicarbonate in non-alcoholic drinks 1 September 1998 31 August 1999 Biomarker assessment of benzoate consumption 1 May 1999 31 March 2000 A regiospecific immunoassay screening test for contaminants from food contact plastics 1 April 1997 31 March 1999 support to the Environmental Protection Directorate and the Wildlife and Countryside Directorate of the former DETR, the hunting and animal welfare policy issues transferred from the Home Office and the full range of former MAFF activities. To provide media liaison support for these policy and operational directorates of DEFRA, the Press Office has currently a staff of 21 press officers.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were employed in a press or public relations function in her Department and its predecessor on 1 January in(a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000, (e) 2001 and (f) 2002. [39938]
§ Mr. MorleyWhen DEFRA was created on 8 June 2001 it brought together the Environmental Protection Directorate and the Wildlife and Countryside Directorate of the former DETR, together with the full range of former MAFF policies and operational activities and certain hunting and animal welfare interests of the Home Office.
Of the retrospective statistics that have been requested, such of those as could be obtained would not provide a valid comparison of these staff resources. Moreover, such information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
In DEFRA at present the number of staff engaged in Press Office activities is 27. This comprises 21 press officers and six support staff.