To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of 13 November 2008, Official Report, column 1318W, on departmental press releases, how many press releases his Department has issued in the last five years. (243381)

Records of the number of press releases issued by my Department (core only) in the last five years are shown in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of 13 November 2008, Official Report, column 1318W, on departmental press releases, how many press releases each of his press officers has released in the last 12 months. (243382)

The Department issued 206 press releases in the period 1 December 2007 to 30 November 2008. All press releases are issued centrally from the press office and not by individual press officers.