Dear Sir or Madam,

I previously made a request concerning the marketing budget for the
ID card scheme (see
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ma...)
and received the following response:

"After a thorough search, I regret to inform you that the Identity
and Passport Service (IPS) does not hold the information that you
have requested. The Marketing Week article was based on assumption
rather than fact. It was premature in its assumption, in that no
approach to any marketing agency has yet been made to promote the
National Identity Scheme and no firm budget has yet been allocated
for such work."

The Mail on Sunday today reports
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/mailonsunday/...)
that:

"The Home Office has employed M&C Saatchi to mount a marketing
blitz ahead of the National Identity Scheme’s launch in
November...M&C Saatchi will begin the campaign with TV adverts and
posters explaining the cards’ ‘benefits’ to a sceptical public.

The firm is also believed to be behind a Home Office website,
www.mylifemyid.org, which has been advertised on social networking
sites Facebook and Bebo since July."

Now that an approach has been made to a marketing agency I would be
grateful if you could provide details of:

1) The value of the contract with M&C Saatchi and the activities
that are the subject of that contract 2) The budget for the
marketing campaign to begin in November 3) The budget allocated for
the MyLifeMyId.org initiative

Yours faithfully,

FishNChipPapers

Dear FishnChipPapers,

Thank you for your email of 7 October. Please find a response attached.

Yours faithfully,

On behalf of James Hall, Chief Executive
Identity and Passport Service

<<10212 fishnchippapers response.doc>>

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