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Parents Charter

Volume 196: debated on Thursday 17 October 1991

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science in which newspapers and magazines the parents charter has been advertised; on what dates; and at what total cost.

The planned advertising schedule to 13 October was as follows:

Daily Express28 September, 3, 7, 12 October
Daily Mail28 September, 4, 7, 12 October
Daily Mirror30 September, 3, 7, October
Daily Star28 September, 1, 8, 9 October
The Daily Telegraph30 September, 2, 5 October
Evening Standard27 September
The Guardian28 September, 3, 8 October
The Independent30 September, 5, 12 October
The Independent on Sunday29 September, 6 October
The Mail on Sunday6 October
News of the World29 September, 13 October
Observer13 October
Sunday People29 September
The Sun28, 30 September, 9 October
Sunday Express29 September
Sunday Mirror29 September
The Sunday Telegraph6, 13 October
The Times28, 30 September
Today28 September, 1, 5, 12 October
TV Quick7 October
The cost of the necessary advertising space was just under £280,000, excluding VAT.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) for what purpose the telephone bureau service which is dealing with requests for copies of the parents charter asks for evening telephone numbers of callers;(2) what is the cost of the telephone bureau service to which readers of advertisements concerning the parents charter are directed.

It is standard procedure to ask callers for the contact telephone number in case there are queries about their order; a small sample of the numbers may also be used to check on the effectiveness of distribution arrangements and on the use made of the charter. Callers are not pressed to give numbers if they do not wish to do so.The cost of setting up the service and handling all calls up to noon on 15 October was £34,000, exclusive of VAT. This includes the cost of the 0800 number which enables respondents to make calls free of charge.