To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many external contracts his Department held with public relations companies in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost of those contracts was. (183167)

The Department for Work and Pensions was formed on 8 June 2001 from parts of the former Department of Social Security, the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information on costs prior to 2001 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. In addition numbers of contracts prior to 2005-06 were not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The Department runs a number of promotional campaigns to increase awareness of people’s rights and responsibilities or changes to legislation. PR agencies are taken on where messages are most effectively promoted by supplementing ‘paid-for’ advertising (press/TV/radio) with public relations activity.

The following table details spend on PR campaigns and numbers of contracts and totals: