§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff the Communications Directorate of the Home Office had in each year from 1997–98 to 2005–06 (planned); what the running costs were in each year; and if he will make a statement. [156706]
§ Mr. BlunkettThe purpose of the Communication Directorate (CD) is to take a strategic overview of Home Office communication activity. This entails managing a wide range of communication roles from the strategic level to front line delivery; also included is management of the Direct Communications unit, which is responsible for answering all public and ministerial inquiries by telephone, mail and email.
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CD unit organisation and staffing at 1 March 2004 Number Directors office 2 Direct communications 88 Marketing and strategic communications 55 Information services 38 Internal communications 23 Press office 51 Total 257 The requested breakdown of expenditure is as follows:
Staff numbers Communication directorate running costs (£) 1997–98 88 4,102,943 1998–99 92 3,960,185 1999–2000 90 5,580,806 2000–01 117 7,699,620 2001–02 153 9,242,712 2002–03 226.5 9,086,614 2003–04 260 11,682,504 2004–05 1260 111,098,376 2005–06 1260 111,098,376 1Provisional figures. Direct Communications Unit has absorbed functions from other parts of the Home Office, including telephones, front of house, ministerial correspondence and public inquiries.
A review of the press office in 2000 agreed an expansion to meet the growing demands of a 24 hour 365 day media. At the same time there was development of the Home Office Internet site and the internal Intranet to communicate with 18,000 staff who have access. The function of internal communications did not exist pre 1999.