§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many press releases have been issued by his Department in each(a) year and (b) quarter from 1995–96 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92439]
§ Mr. StrawOur records of the number of Foreign and Commonwealth Office press releases issued extend back only as far as May 1997. For the figures since May 1997, 1 refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Tayside North (Pete Wishart) on 12 June 2002,Official Report, columns 1269–70W.
During 2002 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued 637 press releases and has issued 25 since 1 January 2003.