§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development 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. [168686]
94W
Mr. Gareth ThomasDFID does not keep central records of all staff working on communications across the Department and this information could not be gathered without incurring a disproportionate cost for the years specified. Information on the press office is available from 1996–97 and is set out as follows.
Number of press officers
Annual cost (£) 1996–97 6 195,000 1997–98 6 243,000 1998–99 4 240,000 1999–2000 3.3 100,000 2000–01 4.5 150,000 2001–02 4 148,000 The Special Advisers' Code of Conduct sets out the sort of work a special adviser may undertake on behalf of their Minister. This includes communications activity. Details of the costs of Special Advisers are given on an annual basis. Information for the financial year 2003–04 will be published in due course.