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Ministry of Defence

Answer

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many official Christmas cards were sent out by his Department in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; [205131] (2) what the cost was of purchasing official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; [205130] (3) what the cost of postage was for official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; [205129] (4) what percentage of official departmental Christmas cards included a contribution to charity in their cost; and which charities benefited from such a contribution; [205128] (5) how many departmental staff have responsibility for preparing Christmas cards; [205127] (6) how many hours of staff time were taken up in preparation of Christmas cards in 2004. [205126] Mr. Caplin: Expenditure on the purchase and postage of official Christmas cards is governed by departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting. This allows for Ministers, members of the Defence Council, Head of Defence Export Services and the Director General of Media and Communications to send Christmas cards at public expense. Additionally, resulting from representational responsibilities at management levels below the Defence Council, individual Top Level Budget Holders may personally send a modest amount of Christmas cards at public expense. The regulations also allow for some TLB business areas to send official Christmas cards (on an exceptional basis) where this would facilitate the achievement of specific business objectives. The information we have for 2003 and 2004 is as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2003 2004 Number of cards1 1,972 2,183 Cost (£) 1,743 1,664 Charity (percentage) n/k 29 Postage 3-- 3-- Staff 4-- 4-- Staff time 4-- 4-- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Purchased with public funds. 2 Nine per cent. were notified as bought from charitable organisations. The charities benefiting from this were the Army Benevolent Fund and the RAF Benevolent Fund. 3 Accurate information on the cost of postage of official department Christmas cards is not held centrally. 4 Information on the number of staff involved in the preparation of Christmas cards and the staff time taken is not held centrally.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c775-6W; 205131;205130;205129;205128;205127;205126

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Charities Costs Charitable donations Civil servants Government departments Staff Postage stamps Ministry of Defence Working hours Christmas cards

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk