§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much(a) his Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department spent on (i) publicity and (ii) advertising in each year from 1995–96 to 2000–03 (estimated); and if he will make a statement. [92230]
§ Mr. AlexanderDetails of my Department's spend on (i) publicity and (ii) advertising in each year from 1997–98 to 2001–02 can be found in the table. Information prior to 1997–98 is not held on the Department's accounting system and is therefore available only at disproportionate costs.
£thousand Year Publicity Advertising 1997–98 472 144 1998–99 1,634 138 1999–2000 2,551 262 2000–01 1,803 464 2001–02 4,260 2,708 The estimated spend on publicity and advertising in 2002–03 is £2,106,000. This is based on actual expenditure incurred up to and including December and forecast expenditure for the remaining months of the financial year. It is not possible to separate out the publicity costs from the advertising costs without incurring disproportionate cost.
Expenditure incurred by non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department are not held on our accounting system and is therefore available only at disproportionate cost.
The increase in publicity expenditure between 1997–98 and 1999–00 is due to expenditure in connection with Year 2000 compliance awareness.
The increase in publicity expenditure from 2000–01 to 2001–02 from £1,803 to £4,260,000 is due to expenditure of £2,670,000 incurred by the Office of the E-Envoy for the UK Online advertising campaign, offering help to people wanting to use the internet.
The increase in advertising expenditure from 1998–99 to 2000–01 from £138,000 to £464,000 is due to expenditure on recruitment advertising for posts within the Department. These posts range from administration and junior management level through to the senior civil service. Also included is recruitment advertising expenditure for specialist placements within the Government Information and Development Centre.
947WThe advertising figure for 2001–02 includes £2,491,000 incurred in by the Office of the E-Envoy for the UK Online advertising campaign, offering help to people wanting to use the internet.