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Central Office of Information: Expenditure

Volume 491: debated on Tuesday 21 April 2009

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with reference to the answer to Lord Cope of Berkeley of 19 November 2008, Official Report, House of Lords, column 193WA, on the Central Office of Information: expenditure, for what reasons the figure of £265.8 million expenditure on public relations, marketing and advertising given in the Answer differs from the £391 million expenditure figure published in the Central Office of Information's Annual Report and Accounts for 2007-08; and if he will publish an expenditure figure for 1996-97 using the same methodology as used to calculate the figure in the 2007-08 document. (249011)

The £265.8 million figure represents expenditure on public relations, marketing and advertising. The £391 million figure in the 2007-08 annual report is the total for all expenditure through COI, including for example costs relating to Directgov, public consultations, research, interactive services, publications and regional offices.

In 1996-97 the total expenditure through COI was £125.9 million. The expenditure on public relations, marketing and advertising, unadjusted for inflation, was £81.2 million.

The majority of the increased expenditure since 1996-07 is related to campaigns for public service recruitment, health and safety and new issues such as climate change. The largest campaigns over the last year have been on Army recruitment, RAF recruitment, Act On C02, Alcohol Harm Reduction, Obesity and Road Safety.