Answers issued to Members on 22 April 2009

[R] signifies that the Member has declared an interest.
[W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

Questions to the First Minister

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): How much has the Welsh Assembly Government spent on external communications in each year since 1999? (WAQ53795)

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): How much has the Welsh Assembly Government spent on advertising in each year since 1999? (WAQ53796)

Nick Bourne (Mid and West Wales): Will the First Minister provide details, including costs, of Welsh Assembly Government advertising campaigns in each of the last three financial years? (WAQ53799)

Substantive answer following holding reply.

The First Minister (Rhodri Morgan): It is not possible to provide an accurate comparison of expenditure on external communications since 1999 because of fundamental changes in the Welsh Assembly Government’s structure during this time.

The figures presented below show the external communications expenditure procured by the central Communications Division and does not include expenditure on communications by departments not procured centrally.

Table 1 - The figures present the period pre-ASPB merger 1999 - 2006 and post-ASPB merger 2006-2009

1999 - 2006 Pre-ASPB Merger

2006-2009 Post-ASPB Merger

*Information as at 16 March 2009.

(Figures to nearest £1,000. Figures for 2004 onwards include a corporate budget of £720k).

The vast majority of Welsh Assembly Government advertising expenditure is on advertising supporting specific-led campaigns. The figures in the following tables exclude expenditure on recruitment advertising, public appointments and statutory public notices and covers only expenditure on advertising procured by the central Communication Division.

Table 2 - The figures for expenditure on advertising since 1999 are as follows:

1999-2006 Pre-ASPB Merger

2006-2009 Post-ASPB Merger and Government of Wales Act

Figures to nearest £1,000.

*Figure includes costs to March 2009 which will alter on completion of year end resource accounting.

Table 3 - The figures for the Welsh Assembly Government expenditure on advertising campaigns for the previous three years is as follows: