Vol. 567 No. 6
181 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on whether his Department's share of the more than ?10 million spent by Government Departments in 2002 on public relations, marketing and advertising represents best value for money; and the plans which exist to reduce spending in this area. [14671/03]
Expenditure on public relations, marketing and advertising by my Department during the year 2002 was of the order of €600,000.
The most significant proportion of this expenditure was non-discretionary under existing statutory requirements, mainly relating to the publication of Statutory Instruments notices, notifications concerning afforestation, calls for tenders, job advertisements, aquaculture licensing, notices relating to fishing quotas, inland fishery by-laws and notices relating to petroleum and mining exploration.
I have asked my Department to rigorously review existing statutory requirements on publication from a value for money and customer service perspective and to identify the scope for reducing outlay on advertising through utilisation of electronic and on-line options.
