To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what expenditure the Central Office of Information (COI) has incurred in each Government region on (a) newspaper, (b) radio, (c) television, (d) poster and (e) internet advertising in each year since 2005; by what method the effectiveness of such advertising is evaluated; and whether the COI holds information on expenditure incurred on advertising by Government departments other than the Cabinet Office. (267039)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.

Letter from Peter Buchanan, dated 20 April 2009:

As Acting Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on Government regional expenditure (267039).

The total expenditure incurred by COI in each year since 2005 is given in the table below:

The manner in which media is planned, sold and bought does not align with Government regions. Indeed the vast majority of media spend is committed at a national level.

There would be a disproportionate cost to break it down by Government region, and it would not be accurate.

In terms of the evaluation of the effectiveness, virtually all advertising placed through COI is fully evaluated using techniques such as recall, tracking, attitudinal shifts and awareness. All response data is fully captured for evaluation purposes.

I can confirm that COI do hold financial information on media expenditure made through us by our clients.