§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Solicitor General what the total expenditure on advertising by the Department 209W was in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and what the level of planned expenditure is for (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05. [114422]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralA holding reply was given on 21 May 2003.
Expenditure on advertising by the Crown Prosecution Service is restricted to advertising job vacancies in the local and national press. The total expenditure by the Crown Prosecution Service was £684,420 in 2001–02 and £1,123,294 in 2002–03. The planned expenditure for 2002–04 is £558,731. Budgets for 2004–05 have not yet been set but expenditure is expected to be similar to 2003–04
The Serious Fraud Office has only incurred expenditure in 2001–02 of £64,000 and 2002–03 of £38,000 on recruitment advertising. It has not plans to incur expenditure in 2003–04 and 2004–05 on advertising other than for recruitment.
The expenditure on advertising by the Treasury Solicitor's Department met from public funds in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03 was as follows:
£ 2001–02 122,300 2002–03 1115,000 1Forecast The advertising budget for 2003–04 is £135,000. A detailed budget for 2004–05 has not been decided.
Expenditure on advertising by the Treasury Solicitor's Department is directly related to the recruitment of lawyers to the Government Legal Service (GLS) and administrative staff.
Within the Department, the specialist Bona Vacantia division regularly places advertisements in the press seeking kin in cases where individuals have died intestate with no apparent claimants to the estate under administration. The costs for this activity are treated as an expense on the Crown Nominee's Account that is presented separately to Parliament. The advertising costs falling on that account for 2001–02 and 2002–03 have been £192,800 and £130,300 respectively.
The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate have no budget for advertising.