Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) HM Courts and Tribunal Service, (c) HM Prison Service, (d) the Legal Aid Agency and (e) the National Offender Management Service; how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mike Penning

The Ministry of Justice including the National Offender Management Service employs a total of 42 staff within the external communications division. Of those, eight are paid more than £50,000. The total spend on external communications during 2014/15 was £1,914,806.

The total number of staff is less than that in 2009/2010 even though the function has additional responsibilities such as strategic communications, campaigns, stakeholder communications and a wider spread of digital communications activities.

The Legal Aid Agency shares services with the Ministry of Justice, and consequently has no separate spend on press and public relations. HM Courts and Tribunals Service operate a separate press office function employing a total of 3 staff, one of which is paid more than £50,000. The total HMCTS spend 2014/15 was £161,331.

Spend on external communications continues to fall and we will look for further savings where possible. As one of the biggest departments responsible for prisons, courts and other issues of national importance such as human rights we have a duty to explain our work to the public.