Costs of PR and FOI

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departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2009/0067940.

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
http://www.dius.gov.uk/index.htm

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Dear Ms Brooke,
I refer to your request of 16 July 2009 under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 for information for the past three years:

1. The number of staff (full-time equivalent) working in marketing,
external communications and press offices.

2. The number of dedicated Freedom of Information officers (full-time
equivalent)

3. Total staffing cost of marketing, external communications and press
officers.

4. Total staffing cost of dedicated Freedom of Information staff.

5. Total spending on marketing, external communications and press offices.

6. Total spending on Freedom of Information.

7. If the department produces a newsletter then the name of this
publication and all associated costs.

This reply includes information relating to the former Department for
Trade and Industry (DTI), the former Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the former Department of Innovation,
Universities and Skills (DIUS). BERR, DIUS and the Department for
Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) were created from the DTI and the
former Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in June 2007. The
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was created on 5 June
2009 by merging BERR and DIUS.

1. The number of staff (full-time equivalent) working in marketing,
external communications and press offices:

2006/07 These figures are for the former DTI.

Full time equivalents on 1 April 2006 working in:

Marketing team and stakeholder 27.8

management team

Press Office 15

2007/08 These figures for the former DTI up to the creation of BERR in
June 2007 and subsequently for BERR.

Full time equivalents on 1 April 2007 working in:

Marketing team and stakeholder 28.8

management team

Press Office 21.9

2008/09 These figures are for BERR

Full time equivalents on 1 April 2008 working in:

Marketing and stakeholder 30.6

management team

Press Office 23.8

2008/09 These figures are for DIUS.

Press Office 14

Marketing and external communications 20

2. The number of dedicated Freedom of Information officers (full-time
equivalent)

2006/07 DTI 6

2007/08 DTI and BERR 6

2008/09 BERR 7

DIUS used a shared service agreement with the Department for Children,
Schools and Families (DCSF) for information rights (which included FOI),
so did not have any dedicated

Freedom of Information officers.

3. Total staffing costs for:

2006/07 DTI

Marketing team -L-1,305,000

Press Office -L-1,023,000

2007/08 DTI and BERR

Marketing team -L-1,378,000

Press Office -L-1,095,000

2008/09 BERR

Marketing team -L-1,318,000

Press Office -L-1,065,000

2008/09 DIUS

Marketing team -L-1,105,000

Press Office -L- 766,000

4. Total staffing cost of dedicated Freedom of Information staff:

2006/07

DTI -L- 280,197

2007/08

DTI and BERR -L- 306,205

2008/09

BERR -L- 443,899

5. Total spending on marketing, external communications and press offices.

We have interpreted this as the total of staff pay costs and the non pay
costs for each section.

These include items such as press cuttings service for the Press Office
and the marketing team's contribution to major campaigns such as the Real
Help cross government campaign. It excludes spend on marketing incurred by
policy teams.

The non pay costs are:

2006/07 DTI Total spending including pay costs as above

Marketing team -L- 776,000 -L-2,081,000

Press Office -L- 530,000 -L-1,553,000

2007/08 DTI and BERR

Marketing team -L- 440,000 -L-1,818,000

Press Office -L- 756,000 -L-1,851,000

2008/09 BERR

Marketing team -L-1,243,000 -L-2,348,000

Press Office -L- 549,000 -L-1,614,000

2008/09 DIUS

External communications -L-2,774.000 -L-3,879,000

Press office -L- 525,000 -L-1,291,000

6. Total spending on Freedom of Information

These cover the office costs for dedicated FOI staff, including the cost
of space, utilities and the costs of information and communications
technology (ICT) desktop services.

Non pay costs Total spending including pay costs as above

2006/07 DTI -L- 62,942 -L- 343,139

2007/08 DTI and BERR -L- 62,942 -L- 369,147

2008/09 BERR -L- 83,896 -L- 527,795

This does not include any costs associated with staff elsewhere in the
Department who answer FOI requests. As this is work spread across the
Department and varies considerably in terms of who answers, we would not
be able to provide this information.

7. BIS does not produce an external printed newsletter. BIS produces a
monthly Further Education and Skills E-newsletter, which goes to 4610
people. The costs of producing this are minimal - estimated to be between
one to two days per month of one member of staff equating to a few hundred
pounds per edition.

Appeals procedure

If you are unhappy with the result of your request for information, you
may request an internal review within two calendar months of the date of
this letter. If you wish to request an internal review please contact me.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

George O'Neill

Deputy Director, Stakeholder Communications
Yours sincerely,

Goddard, Jacquelyn
DIUS Corporate Centre
[email address]
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0067940.

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References

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1. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/