§ Mr. David WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost is of the recent "Pick it Up, It's Yours" Pension Credit advertising campaign, broken down by(a) television, (b) radio, (c) newspaper, (d) poster and (e) other forms of advertising. [166475]
§ Malcolm WicksThe total cost of publicity for the "Pick It Up, It's Yours" campaign was £15,580,000 for the 2003–2004 financial year. This included the following advertising media costs:
TV 3,570,864 National and regional press 6,086,146 Radio 123,168 The campaign also included other communications media. Commercial poster sites have not been used for this campaign. However, local publicity posters, e.g for display in community premises have been produced. The costs for these cannot be disaggregated.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost was for a full page pension credit advertisement in each publication used during the "Pick it Up, It's Yours", advertising campaign. [166540]
§ Malcolm WicksThe advertising media for the "Pick It Up, It's Yours" campaign was procured using the Government's publicity agency COI Communications. This achieves maximum value for money by exploiting economies of scale across Government departments to negotiate the most favourable rates.
The average cost for a full page advertisement is therefore commercially confidential and is not disclosed in line with Part 2, Paragraph 13 of the Code of Practice on access to Government information.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which advertising agency was used for the recent "Pick It Up, It's Yours" pension credit advertising campaign; and how much they received in payment for their services. [166541]
§ Malcolm WicksThe advertising agency used for this campaign is Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW). They received an estimated £815,171.06 (ex VAT) for their services. This figure, however, is based upon aggregate spending across all advertising managed by COI Communications, the Government's publicity agency. It will not be finalised until an overall agency reconciliation is completed at the end of May 2004.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask time Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 19 January 2004,Official Report, column 1081W, on pension credit, how much of the estimated expenditure for 2004–05 represents back-dated entitlement for 2003–04; and what assumptions are made about the basis on which the savings credit threshold will be uprated in 2005. [166648]
§ Malcolm WicksIt is estimated that in 2004–05, £190 million will be spent on backdated Pension Credit relating to 2003–04 entitlement.
301WFor the purposes of expenditure planning it has been assumed the Savings Credit Threshold will be increased in line with the Retail Prices Index. The actual uprating of Pension Credit will be determined in the annual uprating order.