(2) how much public funding the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) has received in each year since its establishment; how many in-house (a) public affairs and (b) public relations staff NESTA employs; and how much NESTA has spent on externally provided (i) public affairs and (ii) public relations services in the last three years.
In 2007/08 the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) contracted with the Central Office of Information (COI) for services when the NESTA communications team was not fully staffed and significant initiatives required communications support. Consolidated PR was chosen by COI to undertake the work and was paid £138,794. In 2008/09, NESTA engaged Consolidated PR directly and paid £17,832 for provision of the same type of services. NESTA made no payments to Consolidated PR in 2006/07. Contracts relating to these arrangements are a matter for the parties concerned.
NESTA is funded by an endowment from the National Lottery rather than grant in aid funding from its sponsor Department, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. NESTA was established in 1998 with an original endowment of £200 million from the National Lottery. In February 2003, £50 million was added to the endowment, and £45 million was received by NESTA for new initiatives, again from the National Lottery. In February 2006, NESTA secured an additional £75 million of endowment funding from the National Lottery to be paid over five years, £15 million pa from 2005/06 to 2009/10. The value of the endowment at 31 March 2009 was £326 million.
NESTA employs two public affairs staff and three public relations staff. In the last three years, NESTA spent nothing on externally provided public affairs services. NESTA spent £58,033 in 2006/07, £148,395 in 2007/08 and £52,482 in 2008/09 on externally provided public relations services.