To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which public affairs firms were given contracts by (a) her Department and (b) public bodies sponsored by her Department in each of the last five years; and what the purpose was of each contract. (118495)

In respect of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:

Budgets for this kind of activity are devolved. The information is not held centrally and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

In respect of the public bodies:

The BBC World Service has contracted two public affairs companies over the past five years, to provide relevant summaries of parliamentary business:

Weber Shandwick until 2003; and

Cambre Public Affairs since, to maintain an automated on-line service.

The British Council contracted three public affairs companies over the last five years:

Brunswick Arts International to manage the promotion of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (August to September 2004);

Brunswick Arts Consultancy Ltd to support the British Council's arts promotion (February to April 2002, June 2002 to May 2003, August 2003 to July 2004); and Fleishman-Hillard UK to produce an audit of MP perceptions of the British Council (January 2006).