COI gets bigger MR brief

The Quinquennial Review of the Central Office of Information (COI), the government department responsible for marketing communications, stated that additional central funding should be allocated for research, subject to the 2002 Spending Review.

The report also recommended that the COI should be responsible for developing research on strategic communications issues.

The news comes as figures show that the government was the biggest advertiser in Britain last year with advertising spend up 39% to £142.6m.

"The review has recommended that the COI should conduct more research, especially into hard to reach audiences," a Cabinet Office spokesman said. "There is not a lot of published data in this area and the information is not as freely available as it is for more consumer friendly areas."