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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the Defence Electronics and Components Agency, (c) the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, (d) the UK Hydrographic Office, (e) the National Army Museum, (f) the National Museum of the Royal Navy, (g) the Royal Air Force Museum, (h) the Single Source Regulations Office and (i) the Oil and Pipelines Agency; how many of these employees earn 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.

Mark Lancaster

The following table outlines the number of civilian and military press and public relations staff posts in Defence (including vacant posts) and press and public relations expenditure in the financial year 2014-15. This expenditure includes £30 million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12 million for staff costs.

Annual salaries are dependent upon grade/rank. Of those in press and public relations staff posts, there are:

No civil servants or military personnel with salaries of more than £100,000.

10 civil servants with salaries of more than £50,000.

24 military personnel with salaries of more than £50,000.

[1] All figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000, therefore the total may not be equal to the sum of rounded values.

[2] Including Directorate of Defence Communications, Defence Business Services, Ministry of Defence Police, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and Defence Equipment and Support.

[3] DECA was formed on 1 April 2015 as a Trading Agency following the Sale of the Defence Support Group therefore separate communications outturn for FY2014-15 is not available.

[4] This figure includes £30million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12million for staff costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) Ofcom, (c) Royal Parks, (d) Arts Council England, (e) Sport England, (f) UK sport, (g) Visit Britain, (h) Visit England and (i) the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and 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 orqanisations in the most recent for which figures are available.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The DCMS communications team is responsible for all public facing, digital and internal communications; this includes both managing day-to-day media enquiries and implementing proactive communications campaigns. Across Government communications teams, we saved £330 million for taxpayers last year compared with 2009 to 2010, by making our campaigns more cost effective, and reduced our communications spending by a total of £1 billion since 2010.

The total expenditure on press and public relations for the financial year 2014/15 was £10,917,270.42. This figure includes staff costs and the costs for high profile publicity campaigns on Broadband Voucher and GO Superfast (broadband).

DCMS currently employs 18.8 full time equivalents in communications – one of the smallest teams in Whitehall covering a departmental policy brief that has expanded in this Parliament. Of these, 7 are paid over £50,000 – but none more than £100,000.

Other Bodies

The sponsorship for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission transferred to the Department for Education from 30 September 2015.

Press and PR functions are a matter for the Chief Executives of each of the bodies in question. They will write to the Honourable Member with this information, and copies of their letters will be placed in the libraries of both Houses

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish the responses to his Department’s consultation on the future of the BBC.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government’s BBC Charter Review Public Consultation closed in October. Over 190,000 people responded to the consultation – the second largest response to any Government consultation. We are in the process of reading and analysing all the responses, and will publish the results once this exercise is completed.