**********************************************************

Following is a question by the Hon Timothy Fok and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council today (July 2):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council of the amount of Government spending per annum on announcements in the public interest over the past five years, broken down by the advertising media including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, Internet, etc?

Reply:

Madam President,

My reply to Hon Timothy Fok's question is as follows:

Depending on the themes and target recipients of the message, bureaux and departments launch their publicity programmes through different media in the form of announcements in the public interest. Generally speaking, announcements made by bureaux and departments via television or radio are eligible for free air time provision as specified in the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap 562). Except for major publicity campaigns coordinated by the Information Services Department in the past, charges for announcements are paid by relevant bureaux and departments. Such expenses are usually charged to the specific project votes, the "Publicity", or even "Other Professional Charges" or "Miscellaneous" votes, etc.

This question asks for data on expenses on specific publicity items in the last five years. These data are not readily retrievable from a single expenditure item of the government account. Extensive checking of individual project files involving substantial manpower and time is required. Despite this, with the assistance of various bureaux and departments, we manage to obtain data from 72 bureaux and departments. These are now listed at the Appendix.

 Appendix:
 
 Expenditure on Placing Announcements
 in the Public Interest in the Following Media
 -----------------------------------------------------------
 
 1.Year: 1998-1999
 
 Media              Expenditure ($)'000
 -----              -------------------
 Newspapers                1,087
 Magazines                     78
 Radio                         300
 Television                    51
 Internet                       68
 
 2.Year: 1999-2000
 
 Media               Expenditure ($)'000
 -----               -------------------
 Newspapers                  1,500
 Magazines                      527
 Radio                           200
 Television                     896
 Internet                        151
 
 3.Year: 2000-2001
 
 Media                Expenditure ($)'000
 -----                -------------------
 Newspapers                    2,150
 Magazines                        225
 Radio                             727
 Television                       309
 Internet                         296
 
 4.Year: 2001-2002
 
 Media                  Expenditure ($)'000
 -----                  -------------------
 Newspapers                     2,222
 Magazines                         29
 Radio                             102
 Television                        641
 Internet                          620
 
 5.Year: 2002-2003
 
 Media                Expenditure ($)'000
 -----                -------------------
 Newspapers                    1,706
 Magazines                        122
 Radio                           1,207
 Television                     2,397
 Internet                        1,158

[Remarks: The above data only reflect the placement expenses incurred by 72 bureaux/departments, and do not include publicity expenses incurred by bureaux/departments for individual performance/activity/exhibition, tendering activity, recruitment, etc.]

End/Wednesday, July 2, 2003

NNNN