Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many press and public relations staff are employed by his Department; how many of those employees are paid more than (a) £50,000 and (b) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by his Department in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The number of press and public relations staff employed in the central Department on 1 January 2016 was sixteen (all full-time employees). Four of those staff have annual salaries over £50,000 and none are over £100,000.

The total of 16 staff compares to an equivalent figure for the central Department in 2009/10 of 19.

The total expenditure on press and PR staff and related services in 2014-15 was £1,266,000.

Overall communications expenditure by the central Department in 2014-15 was £22 million lower than in 2009-10. Across Government the government communications profession reduced communications spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.