To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list (a) those units in his Department and (b) the number of departmental staff which are concerned with preparing rebuttals of allegations in the media; and what is (i) the total cost of their work, including salaries and (ii) the number of rebuttals issued since May 1997. [67943]

The Department for Education and Employment has 28 press officers. It is their job to present and explain Departmental policy. No staff are specifically employed to prepare rebuttals of allegations in the media.The annual staff costs are £739,415.