§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff were employed in the Department to work in the communications field, and what the total expenditure on communications for the Department was, broken down by(a) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (b) other staff, broken down by (i) press officers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) others, in (A) 1994–95, (B) 1996–97, (C) 1997–98 and (D) 2001–02. [168674]
§ Mr. RammellFigures for staff with Government Information and Communications Service qualifications are not available prior to 2003–04 without incurring disproportionate costs.
For details of Press Office staff between 1997 and 2002, I refer the hon. Member to the answer the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), gave to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on 10 April 2002, Official Report, column 63W. For details of Press Office staff in 2003, I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) on 2 July 2003, Official Report, column 310W. For details of special advisers costs and staff numbers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mike O'Brien) gave to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 23 January 2003, Official Report, column 467W.
For details of other staff in the communications field (Information Department) between 1997 and 2002, I refer the hon. Member to the answer the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), gave to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on 10 April 2002, Official Report, column 63W.
The salary costs of Information Directorate, including employee contributions for 2001–02 was £9.6 million of which the Press Office (News Department) was £1.1 million and Information Department was £2.3 million. For 2002–03 the figures are £4.6 million, £1.3 million and £2.2 million respectively. Figures for previous years are not readily available and obtaining them would incur disproportionate costs