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Publicity Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the total real terms expenditure of his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on publicity in each of the years (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02 (i) to date and (ii) as estimated for the whole of the present year; and if he will break these figures down to indicate expenditure on (A) advertising and (B) press and public relations. [36171]
Mr. MacShane: The separately identifiable expenditure by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the categories listed by the hon. Member was:
| Year | Advertising | Press and public relations | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 59,391 | — | 59,391 |
| 1998–99 | 1,101,033 | 16,844 | 1,117,877 |
| 1999–2000 | 56,877 | — | 56,877 |
| 2000–01 | 53,249 | 223,024 | 276,273 |
| 2000–02(25) | 49,581 | 65,142 | 114,723 |
(24) In real terms
(25) To date
The figures provided represent the expenditure of the FCO and not of Wilton Park, our only agency, or our 10 NDPBs; these details are not held centrally and could not therefore be ascertained without disproportionate effort and cost.
The Government are committed to using only cost effective channels to deliver the publicity necessary to support policy implementation. Paid advertising is only resorted to after careful consideration of the cost benefits. The figures in the table include expenditure on consular publicity but exclude expenditure on advertising for recruitment; identifying this expenditure separately would entail disproportionate effort and cost. The advertising figure for 1998–99 includes £1 million spent on a consular advertising campaign in the run-up to the World Cup 1998 in France. The figures for press and public relations include expenditure on public relations firms as part of FCO information campaigns. In addition to the expenditure identified, there was minor additional expenditure in London and overseas in the years concerned. This cannot be ascertained without disproportionate effort and cost.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Domestic Violence
Joan Ryan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what has been the impact of the Children Act Sub-committee 'Guidelines for Good Practice on Parental Contact in Cases Where There Has Been Domestic Violence'. [43801]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department promulgated the Guidelines during Spring 2001. A survey was carried out in the late autumn 2001 on the use and effectiveness of the guidelines. This has shown that they have been broadly well received and have resulted in a generally heightened focus on domestic violence issues. However, there are indications that awareness of the guidelines is patchy, and that more contact centres are needed. The Department is taking steps to address these issues. Copies of the analysis of the survey, including the action to be taken, have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Census 1901
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement about the selection process employed to choose the server engine for the 1901 Census on-line service. [38539]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The 1901 Census Online Service contract was awarded by the Public Record Office to QinetiQ Ltd., after a full competitive tendering exercise. QinetiQ and its sub-contractors selected the server engine based on robustness and scalability.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the ISP bandwidth of the 1901 Census website was at the time it was suspended; and what the planned ISP bandwidth is after the programme of enhancements has been completed. [38556]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The original ISP bandwidth was shared between the Census Online service and other BT Ignite customers. QinetiQ Ltd. advise that a dedicated bandwidth (currently configured at 20Mbit/sec plus burst capability) is now in place which will avoid interference with other ISP customers when the service is re-launched onto general internet access.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if all the errors detected in transcription during the checking of the computer transcriptions of the 1901 Census returns were corrected; and if she will make a statement. [38547]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All errors detected in transcription during the editing of the computer transcriptions of the 1901 Census returns were corrected. The Census online system provides a facility through which any undetected errors may be notified to QinetiQ and, following verification by the Public Record Office, changes will be applied to the database periodically.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what proportion of the pages of the computerised transcriptions of the 1901 Census returns were checked for errors. [38546]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Public Record Office and QinetiQ carried out independent quality assurance checks on a proportion of the electronic pages (images) on all reels of transcribed data. Each reel of data was subject to two checks. A 10 per cent. sample was checked for functionality and data integrity. If it was below the accuracy rate required it was reworked. A separate 2 per cent. sample of each reel was then checked for accuracy of transcription. If the reel failed this test, then the whole reel was checked. Out of 2,152 reels of data, 85 per cent. were subject to this full check.
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Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the budget allocated to cover the costs of checking the transcriptions onto computer of the 1901 Census returns. [38545]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The major proportion of the work of checking the transcriptions of the 1901 census returns was undertaken by the PRO. £350,000 was allocated by the PRO to quality assure the transcription process, with the remaining quality assurance costs being met by QinetiQ Ltd.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what budget was allocated for the work of transcribing the 1901 Census returns on to computer. [38542]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No budget was allocated by the PRO for the work of transcribing the 1901 Census returns on to computer. The cost of transcription was met by QinetiQ Ltd under the terms of its contract. £350,000 was allocated by the PRO to quality assure the transcription process with the remaining quality assurance costs being met by QinetiQ Ltd.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department who carried out the work of transcribing the 1901 Census reforms on to computer; how these people were selected; and if she will make a statement. [38541]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The QinetiQ Ltd team, including Enterprise and Supply Services (ESS), was formed in the initial stages of tendering for the 1901 Census project. The team was formed by QinetiQ from parties considered to be able to offer the best quality and value for money. ESS undertook the transcription of the 1901 Census returns. However to complete the transcription work to the standards and timescales required it became clear that additional resources needed to be employed. A proportion of this work was sub-contracted by ESS, after full competitive tendering, to commercial data input companies based in India, Sri Lanka (Hays Document Management) and in the UK (Atos Origin). All transcription was quality assessed by the Public Record Office and edited where appropriate regardless of where it had been transcribed.
Accountancy Contracts
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the contracts agreed by his Department with the five largest accountancy firms since May 1997; and what was the total value of contracts with each. [42100]
Mr. Wills: The Lord Chancellor's Department replies on behalf of its agencies, the Court Service and the Public Guardianship Office, and the Lord Chancellor's other departments, the Northern Ireland Court Service, HM Land Registry and the Public Records Office. The information requested is as follows:
(26) To date.
(27) No contracts have been let during the time period stated.
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These contracts were primarily let in relation to financial, technical and legal advice for PFI projects, business management advice for major projects and advice on IT requirements.
The Northern Ireland Court Service could not produce figures for 1997–98, as the information is not stored on their current accounting system.
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