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Home Office

Answer

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many hours of staff time were taken up in preparation of Christmas cards in 2004; [205106] (2) how many departmental staff have responsibility for preparing Christmas cards; [205107] (3) what percentage of official departmental Christmas cards included a contribution to charity in their cost; and which charities benefited from such a contributions; [205108] (4) what the cost of postage was for official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; [205109] (5) what the cost was of purchasing official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; [205110] (6) how many official Christmas cards were sent out by his Department in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [205111] Fiona Mactaggart: 20,000 official departmental Christmas cards were purchased in 2003 at a cost of £11,750. The original price quoted was £13,630 but because of poor printing quality we were able to negotiate this down. In 2004, 20,270 cards were purchased at a cost of £14,380.47. In both years all cards were sold in aid of Victim Support with 10p per card being donated. The cards are used by the Department's senior managers and sent to external contacts. The information on staff preparation, time and numbers, as well as postage costs is delegated locally and not held centrally. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1391W;432 c1387W; 205106;205107;205108;205109;205110;205111

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Charities Costs Charitable donations Civil servants Government departments Home Office Staff Postage stamps Working hours Christmas cards

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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