Written question asked by Lord Risby (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 November 1998, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 November 1998. It was answered by Janet Anderson (Labour) on Thursday, 19 November 1998 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the total cost was of the creative industries task force; what the cost was of printing and distributing the mapping documents; how many mapping documents were printed; and what the cost of each document was. - Inc figs.

Answer: Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost was of the creative industries task force; what the cost was of printing and distributing the mapping documents; how many mapping documents were printed; and what the cost of each document was. [59780] Janet Anderson: The only quantifiable cost relating to the Creative Industries Task Force (CITF) is that of refreshments for meetings, which amount to £156 since its first meeting on 8 October 1997. Costs incurred by my department in copying and circulating papers for CITF are not separately recorded. Publication of the mapping document, including design, print and paper costs and arrangements for the launch cost £53,000. We estimate that the full costs was around £110,000, but sponsorship secured us substantial savings on hire of the launch venue, print, paper and other costs. In addition, much of the initial research was done on Task Force's behalf free of charge. 5,000 copies of the document were printed. Distribution costs cannot be extrapolated from my Department's budget for postage and parcels. Although costs relating to the document's launch are included in the sum of £53,000, we cannot disaggregate these from publication costs. We therefore arrive at a cost per document of £10.60.

Secondary information