MoD advertising budget attacked

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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of spending too much on "presentational" advertising rather than on troop recruitment campaigns.

MoD figures show it spent £123.5m on recruitment drives in the past five years, compared with £139.3m on "other initiatives" such as Armed Forces Day.

The Lib Dems said these priorities were wrong and left a "bad taste in the mouth" when troops were so stretched.

The MoD maintained the "majority" of advertising was spent on recruitment.

'Wasted'

In a written Commons statement, the MoD revealed that it spent £262.8m on advertising between 2004-5 and 2008-9.

Last year, spending on recruitment campaigns totalled £26.8m compared with £37.4m on other areas, including Armed Forces Day.

MoD ADVERTISING SPEND 2009: £64.2m2008: £61.9m2007: £36.5m2006: £45m2005: £55.2m

The government created the day, first marked last year, as a way of celebrating the contribution of the armed forces and raising understanding of their work.

In contrast, the breakdown of expenditure in 2004-5 showed £31.4m spent on recruitment and £23.8m on other areas.

Veterans minister Kevan Jones insisted the "majority of advertising conducted by the Ministry of Defence is part of the drive to recruit the best personnel to the armed forces".

But the Lib Dems said the "colossal" sums being spent could not be justified when the department was facing potentially severe cuts as part of an across-the-board spending squeeze.

"Recruitment costs are one thing but the idea that money is being wasted on pointless presentational spin is unacceptable in all government departments," said defence spokesman Nick Harvey.

He said it "leaves a particularly bad taste in the mouth when we have frontline troops earning so little and it is straining an already over-stretched defence budget".

The MoD has been criticised for paying more than £50m in bonuses to civil servants last year as well as allowing costs on multi-billion pound procurement projects to spiral out of control.

The Conservatives have pledged to cut civilian costs at the MoD by a quarter in order to focus resources on the frontline.

But a recent independent report suggested the armed forces could be forced to shrink by a fifth because of a lack of money.