Ipsa's £69,375 PR bill
By Bradley Rogers - 19th October 2010
Ipsa's spending on communications work has been published in Hansard today.
Revealed in answer to a question from Bob Russell, the much-maligned expenses body spent nearly £70,000 in ten months.
Interestingly, the figure of £69,375 bought Ipsa about 100 hours a month of work from Apex Communications - who are at pains to point out (via their APPC entry) that they were providing "exclusively media relations advice".
That equates to £69 an hour - sounds like a bargain in today's corporate comms market. But is it money well spent? Let's let MPs answer that.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm
201011/cmhansrd/cm101018/text/101018w0003.htm#10101831000005
Footnote - Tom Harris MP uncovered the figures in a FOI request at the beginning of the month. You can read his blogpost here http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2010/10/07/70000-well-spent-ahem/
Article Comments
I published this story on my blog nearly two weeks ago:
http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2010/10/07/70000-well-spent-ahem/
Interestingly, whatever Apex's APPC entry says, according to Ipsa itself, the money was spent on 'advice on external communications, including on communications with MPs, the press and the public...'
Something of a contradiction, what?
Tom Harris
19th Oct 2010 at 2:02 pm
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