To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on public relations consultants in each year since 1997. [100725]

The Northern Ireland Office has not used the services of Public Relations consultants.Within the Northern Ireland administration the cost of public relations consultants in each year since 1997 is set out in the following table:

Year	£
1997–98	897,537
1998–99	1,110,559
1999–2000	1,311,243
2000–01	1,270,102
2001–02	1,013,129
2002–03	556,370

One department was unable to provide figures in relation to the cost of public relations consultants.These figures do riot include Agencies and NDPBs.