asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report the number and the average cost of information officers employed by his Department at the beginning of each of the last four years.

The number of staff in the information officer group in my Ministry at the relevant dates, together with their cost, is as follows:—

	Number	Cost
		£ per annum
1 January 1976	9	61,000
1 January 1977	10	72,000
1 January 1978	12	92,000
1 January 1979	11	98,000

The corresponding information for 1 January 1980 is 13 staff at a cost of £125,000.The apparent increase during 1979, which took place at the beginning of the year, was due to the filling of a vacancy and the regrading of an existing post.