Written question asked by Nick Hurd (Conservative) on Thursday, 3 December 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 December 2009. It was answered by Dan Norris (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Departmental Publications

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the monetary value is of his Department's contract with Seven Squared for the production of its staff magazine; and for what reason the magazine is not produced by his Department's communications office.

Answer: The monetary value of the contract with Seven Squared to produce Landscape magazine for the financial year 2008-09 was £136,752.24 (not including VAT).Landscape is DEFRA's staff magazine. It is a high quality publication that is issued 10 times a year and made available to staff in DEFRA, our Executive agencies and the other partner organisations with which we work. Research shows that the magazine is well read, well received and makes a strong contribution to the effectiveness of the business by raising awareness of our wide-ranging portfolio, and for ensuring that staff are clear about the purpose and direction of the Department.It is more cost-effective for us to outsource publication of Landscape to an agency which has the necessary range of specialist equipment, software, technical skills and editorial skills to produce this high quality magazine. To establish and maintain a publication unit in-house which would be underutilised in this specific instance, cannot be justified.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 502 c974W; 305249
Session: 2009-10
Related items: Departmental Publications
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Publications
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk