asked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the number of press and information officers employed by the Government, breaking down the total between Government Departments and giving an estimate of the cost of these civil servants.

The table below shows by Departments the numbers of staff in post in the information office group on 1st April 1978. About one-fifth of the group are engaged wholly or partly in dealings with the editiorial side of newspapers and broadcasting. The remainder are employed on a variety of work including films, exhibitions, export promotion, and censuses and surveys. It is estimated that the current salary cost of the group is £.7·9 million a year.