Written question asked by Lord Hanningfield (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 April 2006.

National School for Government

Question: How much the National School for Government (NSG) has spent on delivering courses related to media training in each year since the NSG’s establishment; whether such courses are provided in-house or by external consultants; what is the average cost per individual participating on a media training course; and, for each year since the NSG’s establishment, how many civil servants, political advisers and Ministers undertook such a course.

Answer: The National School of Government was established in June 2005. Since then it has spent an estimated total of £64,205 on provision of media training (including administrative and overhead costs), which has been recouped from the fees charged for participation. Courses are provided using the resources of both in-house staff and associates of the national school. Prices for participation in a one-day course vary from £315 for a media awareness course to £800 for a media skills course. Since June 2005 a total of 88 civil servants have attended media training. No political advisers or Ministers have attended such training.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 5098; 680 c188-9WA
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Civil servants Consultants Expenditure Ministers Media Special advisers Training Per capita costs National School of Government
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk