---

Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much her Department spends on biking press releases to (a) hon. Members and (b) other individuals or groups, each time her Department issues a press release; how many such press releases were issued by her Department (i) in the period 1 May to 1 July and (ii) in the period 1 January to 1 March; and if she will review her Department's use of couriers to deliver press releases and investigate the possibility of using fax or e-mail. [8813] Mr. Nigel Griffiths: [holding answer 17 July 1997]: The DTI does not bike press releases. Such information is distributed by the Central Office of Information's news distribution service, NDS. NDS's delivery mechanisms include a newswire service which supplies press release to the Parliamentary Online Information Service, POLIS, which can be accessed by all MPs and Lords, hand deliveries, fax and postal deliveries, online database and a widely accessed web site on the Internet. These mechanisms are used either singly or in combination to ensure the most cost effective methods are used to reach the relevant target audiences and to suit the nature of the documents--for instance, whether press releases are dispatched on their own, or accompanied by reports, consultation documents etc; no separate costing is available for the hand delivery service alone. The number of press releases that my Department put out through NDS for the period 1 May to 1 July was 115. For the period 1 January to 1 March there were 180 press releases issued through NDS. My Department and the COI keep a watching brief on new developments to ensure the most cost effective delivery mechanism are used at all times.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

8813; 298 c508-9W;298 c506-7W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Department of Trade and Industry Government departments Facsimile transmission Email Public expenditure Press releases Courier services

Contains statistics

Yes