Departmental Marketing
Transport
Eric Pickles (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Communities and Local Government; Brentwood and Ongar, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many branded plastic bags her Department has purchased in the last 24 months for which figures are available; and at what cost.
Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Poplar and Canning Town, Labour)
Two of the Executive agencies—the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Maritime Coastguard Agency—have procured plastic bags for use in exhibitions and campaigns. Numbers procured and expenditure in financial year 2005-06 totalled 40,000 bags at a cost of £5,314. Figures for 2006-07, were 95,400 bags at a cost of £14,486.
A further 6,650 bags costing £731 have been procured by the Department over the last three financial years to package posters for the 'Arrive Alive' child road safety campaign.
The Department and Executive Agencies are reviewing their practices on the purchase of bags used to facilitate the dissemination of information in campaigns and at exhibitions, following the Prime Minister's