The No. 10 Policy Directorate was created in June 2001, following the merger of the No. 10 Private Office and the Policy Unit. At 1 April 2002, there were 27 policy advisers. The running cost for 2001–02 was £1,717,338.

The European and Foreign Policy Adviser's Office was also created in June 2001. At 1 April 2002, there were five policy advisers, and Sir David Manning and Sir Stephen Wall who also head Secretariats in the Cabinet Office. The running cost for 2001–02 was £272,838.

For the No. 10 Press Office, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 February 2003, Official Report, column 17W.

The Strategic Communications Unit was created in 1998. It handles longer-term communications, including the scheduling of Government announcements, and liaison with the specialist and regional media. For each year the total running costs were:

The number of staff in the Unit was as follows:

The Corporate Communications Division which includes the Direct Communications Unit was created in 2001. The Division deals with my correspondence and last year dealt with over one million letters. It also works with Departments on communications from Government to the public, stakeholders and staff and runs the No. 10 website. At 1 April 2002 there were 27 members of staff. The running cost for 2001–02 was £875,128.

The Research and Information Unit was created in 1999. It provides a single information resource at No. 10, providing policy briefing, library resources and reference material for the Prime Minister and No. 10 staff. For each year the total running costs were as follows.

The number of staff in the Unit on the No. 10 payroll was:

Staff numbers and costs before these dates are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.