asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, Mr David Hansen, on 8 October (Official Report, Commons, 187–88W) on departmental publicity, why an external public relations consultancy was hired to undertake the media engagement instead of the work being conducted by the Ministry of Justice. [HL6199]

The Office of the Public Guardian, which is part of the Ministry of Justice, mounted a campaign to increase public awareness of the Mental Capacity Act. An external consultancy was used as the resources needed did not exist in-house at the time. The campaign ran for three months from August 2007.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, on 22 October (Official Report, Commons, 418–19W) on departmental public relations, which public relations firms were used by the Department for Transport in 2007–08. [HL6201]

The following external public relations companies have worked on the Department for Transport's marketing activities in the 2007-08 fiscal year:

Central DfT—RED, Forster, Munro and Forster and Geronimo;

DVLA—Geronimo, Red Consultancy, and MGB Communications;

VOSA—Couravel; and

MCA—Kinross and Render.