£816,000
Total annual Wigan Council spending on publicity in the financial year 2006-2007 – after ten years of the spinmeisters in power:
£1,345,000
An increase in publicity spending per year of:
64.8%
You didn’t think spin came for free did you? YOU paid for that.
The total local authority annual publicity bill (2006-2007) is £450 million There is one local authority, Birmingham City Council, that spends more than £10 million on publicity.
There are 8 local authorities spending more than £5 million on publicity.
There are 73 local authorities spending more than £2 million on publicity.
There are 141 local authorities spending more than £1 million on publicity.
The total spend on publicity is not broken down in a uniform way in the various local authority accounts. It is possible, however, to identify 44 councils that spend at least £1 million and 4 councils spending at least £2 million on staff recruitment advertising – despite the increased use of websites. If all local authority accounts provided a full breakdown of publicity spending, the number of councils spending at least £1 million on staff advertising would almost certainly increase.
The doubling of average publicity spending per local authority in the last decade is extremely disappointing. There are, however, a number of councils that are actually spending less on publicity than ten years ago. For example:
- Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council spent £669,000 on publicity in 2006-07, down 11 per cent from the £751,000 spent in 1996-97.
- In 2005-06, however, the council spent £1,030,000 on publicity, meaning that the 1-year fall in spending was 35 per cent.
- If Hammersmith and Fulham can reduce publicity spending by 35 per cent in one year …… make other efficiency savings and reduce council tax by 3 per cent, then it must be possible for other councils to follow suit.
Morg
