Josh Fenton-Glynn

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

The Attorney General’s Office operates five social media accounts across X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Threads. It has not spent any money on social media subscriptions or advertisements in the last three years.

The Government recognises the impact that crimes of theft have on all our communities, whether rural or urban, and we are committed to tackling the problem.

There is no specific legal definition of agricultural crime and therefore data on it cannot be collated. However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds data on the number of prosecutions where the principal offence category was theft and handling stolen goods.

It is important to note that CPS principal offence category data is only extracted from the Case Management Information System once the prosecution case has been finalised, this means that the following offence data only relates to completed prosecutions and not any ongoing prosecutions.

From 2010 to date, the CPS has prosecuted 57,641 cases with a theft and handling stolen goods principal offence category originating from the West Yorkshire police force area. Of these, 52,286 resulted in a conviction and only 5,355 resulted in an acquittal.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

The Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. The Prime Minister’s Office has not spent any money on social media subscriptions or advertising.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Below is the Cabinet Office advertising spend through the GCS Framework. Subscriptions are delegated to team level and not centrally managed.

Departmental social media accounts and subscriptions are not centrally managed.

As with any media planning approach, channels are selected based on their ability to engage with relevant audiences in alignment with the government's strategic objectives.

The Cabinet Office is consistently tracking and reviewing spending on communications to ensure efficiency and that the appropriate strategy is implemented. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective and ensure best value for the taxpayer.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact. Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

DBT's spend for the last three calendar years on social media subscriptions was as follows (table):

DBT's spend for the last three calendar years on social media advertising by platform was as follows (table):

DESNZ operates seven social media accounts. Since the Department was established on 7th February 2023, we can only provide information for the past two years. The department spends £84 annually on subscriptions and allocated £366,928 in 2023 and £545,576 in 2024 for advertisements on social media platform.

The Department is responsible for operating a total of 18 social media accounts. This includes a number of accounts currently under review and operated by the Government Digital Service, which recently became a part of the department.

The Department has spent £201.60 on (a) subscriptions – two payments of £100.80 in 2023 and 2024.

To date, the Department has spent £450,901.04 on (b) social media advertisements.

The Department spent £386,615.04 on LinkedIn and £64,286.00 on META in the financial year 24/25.

In addition, the Department has a shared HR function with DESNZ which has a contractual arrangement with LinkedIn Hiring Solutions for the period June 2023 to June 2025, for the amount of £425,123.31.

The Department holds no data prior to the financial year 23/24 due to DSIT only being formed in February 2023.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests. The Government remains committed to scrutiny, transparency and best value for taxpayer money.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

(a) Subscriptions: DCMS has had a Premium Plus subscription with X (formerly known as Twitter) for two years which costs £168 per annum, and a Reddit subscription since March 2024 at £60 per annum. A breakdown per financial year is as follows:

• 2024/25 - £228 (X and Reddit).

• 2023/24 - £178 (X and Reddit).

• 2022/23 - £0.

• 2021/22 - £0.

(b) Advertisements: On advertisements, we have calculated figures based on the three previous financial years, excluding 2024/25 given this year has not yet finished. These figures are total amounts spent on advertising and marketing in our campaigns that includes wider campaign costs such as creative development and production, research, evaluation and media channels not limited to social media. We do not have records that give a comprehensive breakdown of each social media platform earlier than FY2023/24 due to the way figures are recorded.

FY2023/24:

• In 2023/24, DCMS spent a total of £601,129.14 on advertising and marketing in our campaigns, of which £110,000 was spent on social media advertising. £35,000 was spent on YouTube and £75,000 on Meta and Snapchat.

• DCMS also spent an additional £600 boosting social media posts on DCMS owned channels.

FY2022/23:

• In 2022/23, DCMS spent a total of £587,958.60 on advertising and marketing in our campaigns, a small contribution of which going to social media advertising. This figure includes campaigns that would now be owned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which were conducted when DCMS still held the Digital portfolio. Social media channels included: Google, Bing, Netmums, YouTube, Facebook, X/Twitter, Giphy, Acast, Spotify, Snapchat, Loop Me, Instagram, Venatus.

• DCMS also spent an additional £188.53 boosting social media posts on DCMS owned channels.

FY2021/22:

• In 2021/22, DCMS spent a total of £318,844.21 on advertising and marketing in our campaigns, a smaller contribution of which going to social media advertising. This figure includes campaigns that would now be owned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which were conducted when DCMS still held the Digital portfolio. Social media channels included: Spotify, Acast, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Loop-Me, Venatus, Youtube, Google, LinkedIn.

• DCMS also spent an additional £639.93 boosting social media posts on DCMS owned channels.

The department uses social media to connect directly and speak with the public on the issues and areas of interest they care most deeply about.

It operates 25 live social media accounts incorporating campaigns and supporting agencies.

The department spends no money on social media platform subscriptions.

The department undertook communications activity across its remit in line with the government’s published communications plans for each year. All spend complies with Cabinet Office spending controls to ensure that, where taxpayer money is being spent on government communications, it is cost-effective, coordinated and reflects functional standards and professional best practices. Activity included delivering joined up, national campaigns to increase supply and demand for technical qualifications, including apprenticeships and T Levels, and skills offers; inspiring more people to teach in schools and colleges; encouraging take up of government-funded childcare; and inspiring more people to become childcare professionals. As part of these campaigns, the department spent the following on paid-for advertising on each social media platform in each complete financial year:

The department is not intending to launch a consultation on reducing the availability of assistive technology support packages and products provided through Disabled Students’ Allowance or the removal of the needs assessment element of applications.

The department has not announced any changes to these areas of the Disabled Students’ Allowance.

The average waiting time for a needs assessment from the date of application to the date of the assessment being carried out comprises the time taken by the Student Loans Company (SLC) to process an application and then the time taken by the contracted suppliers Capita and Study Tech to process the needs assessment.

The time taken by SLC to process an application is published online at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sfe-current-application-timescales. The latest weekly update, for February, shows that the average time taken for SLC to process an application, shown under the heading “a DSA application”, is currently 7 working days. The average time taken for the contracted suppliers to offer and complete the needs assessment is currently 28 days. Each supplier has been set two individual KPIs to cover the offer and completion of the needs assessment. These are KPI 1, “Booking of a Needs Assessment Appointment (Minimum of 95% of offer of needs assessment appointment made within 2 working days of referral of customer by SLC)” and KPI 2, “Completion of a Needs Assessment (Minimum of 95% of needs assessment interviews should be offered and completed within 7 working days of successful contact (excluding those where the customer has requested an alternative date))”.

Following completion of the needs assessment, both suppliers are required to return the needs assessment report to SLC for review within 5 workings days, as stipulated by KPI 3, “Minimum of 95% of NARs made available to SLC within 5 working days of when needs assessments undertaken (excluding those where the customer has requested to review the needs assessment report)”. It is currently taking suppliers on average 14 days to return the needs assessment report to SLC. The needs assessment is then reviewed by SLC, following which confirmation of entitlement is communicated to the customer on the DSA2 letter. It is currently taking SLC 10 working days to complete this stage of the journey, as noted on the GOV.UK page under the heading “a Needs Assessment report”.

Information on the suppliers’ performance against their KPIs is published online on a quarterly basis here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/ds. The next update will be published at the end of February.

All students applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) are required to have a needs assessment. This means that assistive software for spelling and grammar support has only been awarded when recommended in a needs assessment and agreed by SLC.

Data on the number of students awarded specific assistive software for spelling and grammar support through DSA for the time periods specified in the question is not immediately available, but in the 2023 calendar year this was around 36,000.

A list of the assistive software products for spelling and grammar support that have previously been awarded through DSA is published online here: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/exchange-blog/2017/april/dsa-product-review-process/. This list is for administrative purposes only. Products that are not on the list can also be funded through DSA if they are recommended by a needs assessor and agreed by SLC. Overall, agreed spend on spelling and grammar software through DSA is in the region of £4.5 million to £5 million annually. The total spend on each software product within that varies, as it depends on which products are recommended by needs assessors as being most suitable for students’ needs. As an illustration, in the 2023 calendar year, around 80% of total spend was on non-specialist grammar and spelling products, with Grammarly Premium making up 53% of total spend and Global Autocorrect 24% of total spend. Around 20% of total spend was on specialist grammar and spelling products for specific subject areas such as medicine and law, with Medincle products making up 16% of total spend.

The average waiting time for a needs assessment from the date of application to the date of the assessment being carried out comprises the time taken by the Student Loans Company (SLC) to process an application and then the time taken by the contracted suppliers Capita and Study Tech to process the needs assessment.

The time taken by SLC to process an application is published online at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sfe-current-application-timescales. The latest weekly update, for February, shows that the average time taken for SLC to process an application, shown under the heading “a DSA application”, is currently 7 working days. The average time taken for the contracted suppliers to offer and complete the needs assessment is currently 28 days. Each supplier has been set two individual KPIs to cover the offer and completion of the needs assessment. These are KPI 1, “Booking of a Needs Assessment Appointment (Minimum of 95% of offer of needs assessment appointment made within 2 working days of referral of customer by SLC)” and KPI 2, “Completion of a Needs Assessment (Minimum of 95% of needs assessment interviews should be offered and completed within 7 working days of successful contact (excluding those where the customer has requested an alternative date))”.

Following completion of the needs assessment, both suppliers are required to return the needs assessment report to SLC for review within 5 workings days, as stipulated by KPI 3, “Minimum of 95% of NARs made available to SLC within 5 working days of when needs assessments undertaken (excluding those where the customer has requested to review the needs assessment report)”. It is currently taking suppliers on average 14 days to return the needs assessment report to SLC. The needs assessment is then reviewed by SLC, following which confirmation of entitlement is communicated to the customer on the DSA2 letter. It is currently taking SLC 10 working days to complete this stage of the journey, as noted on the GOV.UK page under the heading “a Needs Assessment report”.

Information on the suppliers’ performance against their KPIs is published online on a quarterly basis here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/ds. The next update will be published at the end of February.

All students applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) are required to have a needs assessment. This means that assistive software for spelling and grammar support has only been awarded when recommended in a needs assessment and agreed by SLC.

Data on the number of students awarded specific assistive software for spelling and grammar support through DSA for the time periods specified in the question is not immediately available, but in the 2023 calendar year this was around 36,000.

A list of the assistive software products for spelling and grammar support that have previously been awarded through DSA is published online here: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/exchange-blog/2017/april/dsa-product-review-process/. This list is for administrative purposes only. Products that are not on the list can also be funded through DSA if they are recommended by a needs assessor and agreed by SLC. Overall, agreed spend on spelling and grammar software through DSA is in the region of £4.5 million to £5 million annually. The total spend on each software product within that varies, as it depends on which products are recommended by needs assessors as being most suitable for students’ needs. As an illustration, in the 2023 calendar year, around 80% of total spend was on non-specialist grammar and spelling products, with Grammarly Premium making up 53% of total spend and Global Autocorrect 24% of total spend. Around 20% of total spend was on specialist grammar and spelling products for specific subject areas such as medicine and law, with Medincle products making up 16% of total spend.

The average waiting time for a needs assessment from the date of application to the date of the assessment being carried out comprises the time taken by the Student Loans Company (SLC) to process an application and then the time taken by the contracted suppliers Capita and Study Tech to process the needs assessment.

The time taken by SLC to process an application is published online at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sfe-current-application-timescales. The latest weekly update, for February, shows that the average time taken for SLC to process an application, shown under the heading “a DSA application”, is currently 7 working days. The average time taken for the contracted suppliers to offer and complete the needs assessment is currently 28 days. Each supplier has been set two individual KPIs to cover the offer and completion of the needs assessment. These are KPI 1, “Booking of a Needs Assessment Appointment (Minimum of 95% of offer of needs assessment appointment made within 2 working days of referral of customer by SLC)” and KPI 2, “Completion of a Needs Assessment (Minimum of 95% of needs assessment interviews should be offered and completed within 7 working days of successful contact (excluding those where the customer has requested an alternative date))”.

Following completion of the needs assessment, both suppliers are required to return the needs assessment report to SLC for review within 5 workings days, as stipulated by KPI 3, “Minimum of 95% of NARs made available to SLC within 5 working days of when needs assessments undertaken (excluding those where the customer has requested to review the needs assessment report)”. It is currently taking suppliers on average 14 days to return the needs assessment report to SLC. The needs assessment is then reviewed by SLC, following which confirmation of entitlement is communicated to the customer on the DSA2 letter. It is currently taking SLC 10 working days to complete this stage of the journey, as noted on the GOV.UK page under the heading “a Needs Assessment report”.

Information on the suppliers’ performance against their KPIs is published online on a quarterly basis here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/ds. The next update will be published at the end of February.

All students applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) are required to have a needs assessment. This means that assistive software for spelling and grammar support has only been awarded when recommended in a needs assessment and agreed by SLC.

Data on the number of students awarded specific assistive software for spelling and grammar support through DSA for the time periods specified in the question is not immediately available, but in the 2023 calendar year this was around 36,000.

A list of the assistive software products for spelling and grammar support that have previously been awarded through DSA is published online here: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/exchange-blog/2017/april/dsa-product-review-process/. This list is for administrative purposes only. Products that are not on the list can also be funded through DSA if they are recommended by a needs assessor and agreed by SLC. Overall, agreed spend on spelling and grammar software through DSA is in the region of £4.5 million to £5 million annually. The total spend on each software product within that varies, as it depends on which products are recommended by needs assessors as being most suitable for students’ needs. As an illustration, in the 2023 calendar year, around 80% of total spend was on non-specialist grammar and spelling products, with Grammarly Premium making up 53% of total spend and Global Autocorrect 24% of total spend. Around 20% of total spend was on specialist grammar and spelling products for specific subject areas such as medicine and law, with Medincle products making up 16% of total spend.

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact. Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests. Defra currently operates 18 accounts across its policy areas and functions. To our knowledge, Defra does not have regular social media subscriptions. Departmental marketing spend for the last 3 years on social advertisements is detailed below:

The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

DfT operates 23 separate social media accounts, and in the last three years it has spent £201.60 on social media subscriptions.

The table below shows how much DfT have spent advertising on social media platforms for each of the last 3 calendar years for public behaviour change campaigns predominantly on road safety and accessibility.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

As of August 2024, the number of individuals claiming Carer’s Allowance to care for someone in Wales and the regions of England is detailed in the table below. The data is categorised by Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and other benefits, which include Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA).

Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’, by filtering for region using the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’ and ‘DWP Policy ownership’.

For the primary health condition, the ‘Disability’ filter can be used.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

Data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’, by filtering for region using the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’ and ‘DWP Policy ownership’.

For the primary health condition, the ‘Disability’ filter can be used.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

There are a total of 80 social media accounts that are operated across the department. A full list of handles can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-registered-twitter-accounts/dwp-official-twitter-accounts

There are currently no paid for subscriptions to any of these services.

Spending on social media advertising for the last three years is outlined below. This does not include cross-government campaign costs which cannot be disaggregated between Departments:

The tables attached show the number of referrals to Mental Health services by primary reason for referral in 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24, as well as the number of referrals to Talking Therapies services by presenting complaint in 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24.

The tables attached show the number of referrals received for Mental Health Services and for NHS Talking Therapy services, by age at referral and financial year, for 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24.

It should be noted that the majority of NHS Talking Therapy services are for those aged over 18 years old, with some including support for 16 to 17 year olds. In addition, these counts include rejected referrals and will be impacted by data quality issues, particularly where there are changes of system suppliers and transfers of caseloads between providers.

The tables attached show the number of referrals made to Mental Health Services and to NHS Talking Therapy services by ethnicity, in 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24.

Please note that these counts include rejected referrals and will be impacted by data quality issues, particularly where there are changes to the system suppliers and transfers of caseloads between providers.

The following table shows the number of referrals received by Mental Health services that waited longer than 12 months between referral and second contact for the years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24:

Source: Mental Health Services Data Set.

In addition, the following table shows the number of referrals received by NHS Talking Therapies that waited longer than 12 months between referral and second contact for the years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24:

Source: NHS Talking Therapies.

Information on mental health conditions by referral is not available, and a diagnosis may not have been established at the time of referral.