Council newspaper

The request was partially successful.

Dear Lisburn City 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

Lisburn City Council

I will be out of the office starting 31/12/2009 and will not return until
04/01/2010.

I am out of the office until Monday 4th January 2010.

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Lisburn City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barnett

Thank you for your Freedom of Information enquiry of 4th January 2010. I
have replied to your questions as you asked them, in point format.

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)

The Council's Newspaper is called CityWide and is published in
November each year and sent to approximately 47,250 households and
businesses in the Lisburn City Boundary.

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

It costs £17737.00 to produce and distribute. Council resources are
not broken down in such a way as to provide such a cost.

3. How much of that cost is offset by advertising

None. This is purely a Council news publication.

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

N/A

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

N/A

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

N/A

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

The Council does not have an Editorial Policy Guide for the Newsletter
as it currently does not include external advertising or editorial.

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

N/A

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

This is a team effort and different people work on the project at
different times during the project's duration. People include one
Assistant Director, one Marketing Officer, one internal Designer and
two administrative staff. Council resources are not broken down in
such a way as to provide such a cost.

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I hope this answers your questions but should you have any further
queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Claire Bethel
Assistant Director of Corporate Services

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