Dear Derbyshire County Council,

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I wish to
receive the following information from your authority:

1. The name, frequency and distribution/circulation of your council
newspaper (by council newspaper I mean the most frequently
published newspaper or magazine intended for mass distribution
covering more than one topic)

2. How much it cost to produce and distribute said newspaper in the
last full financial year, and how much was budgeted from council
resources in the financial year 2009/2010

3. How much of that cost is offset by advertising

4. How much of that advertising, if any, comes from external
sources (ie not from your authority's budgets)?

5. Which other public sector partners pay to run advertising in
your newspaper, eg PCTs?

6. Whether recruitment advertising forms part of the advertising in
your newspaper?

7. A copy of an editorial policy guide, if one exists, which
governs the material which is placed in the newspaper, and how it
is decided

8. A copy of an advertising policy guide, if one exists, which
governs what sort of advertising is suitable.

9. The number of people employed to put your newspaper/newsletter
together, including total cost and staff organisation chart

Some parts of this request may be easier to answer than others, and
should this prove to be the case I would ask that you release
available data as soon as possible rather than hold up the entire
request.

I would prefer to receive this information electronically. If the
decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in
Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.

If you need any clarification then please contact me at the email.
Under your section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance I would
expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in
any way.

I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have
received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you in
the near future.

Yours faithfully,

L Barnett

Thank you for contacting Derbyshire County Council. I have forwarded
your email to our Freedom of Information Officer for reply.

Regards,

Helen.
Call Derbyshire Administrator.
Call Derbyshire - 08456 058 058

Please address all replies to [email address]

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Dear L Barnett

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act. I hope the following information is helpful to you.

Derbyshire First (formerly Derbyshire Insight until June 2009) is our
council newspaper for residents. We publish the 24-page tabloid five times
a year and deliver to around 330,000 households.

In 2008/2009 it cost £251,497 to produce and distribute Derbyshire
Insight. The budget figure for 2009/2010 is £272,653. From April 2010
this figure will reduce because we will only be publishing a 16-page
tabloid four times a year.

In 2008/2009 we had an income target of £20,000. This is where our
services or our public sector partners pay to have a supplement, single or
double page spread covering a specific issue such as recycling and waste,
emergency planning, community safety and domestic abuse. Very occasionally
we include a small generic recruitment advert for school kitchen staff or
cleaners. We do not include external advertising or receive any external
advertising income.

Our editorial policy is that all stories included are about the county
council's policies and our services. They may include projects or services
which we jointly deliver with our public, private or voluntary sector
partners. We comply with the Local Government Act and Code of Conduct on
Local Government Publicity.

Derbyshire First is written in-house by our public relations division. It
is one of a number of publications we produce and no one is employed to
work full-time on it. Staff hours spent on the publication cost £37,148
in the 2008/2009 financial year.

I hope this answers the questions you have raised.

Yours sincerely

Jenny Tozer

Assistant Director Communications  

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Derbyshire County Council works to improve the lives of local people by
delivering high quality services. You can find out more about us by
visiting 'www.derbyshire.gov.uk'. If you want to work for us go to our job
pages on 'www.derbyshire.gov.uk/jobs'. You can register for e-mail alerts,
download job packs and apply on-line.

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