Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many social media accounts her Department operates; and how much her Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
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 Ministry of Justice Communications team oversees 33 social media accounts, for HQ and its executive agencies across various platforms as of 28 February 2025, we also support around 91 local Prison social media accounts across X and LinkedIn.
The Department's spending on social media platforms for the last three financial years is detailed below:
Social Media platforms | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
X | £69,765.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
Linked in | £119,616.73 | £65,809.65 | £150,846.07 |
YouTube | £0.00 | £0.00 | £19,957.00 |
Gaia | £0.00 | £8,500.00 | £26,472.10 |
GDN | £0.00 | £463.00 | £1,855.13 |
Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Threads) | £420,388.00 | £582,390.00 | £1,138,059.44 |
Totals | £609,769.73 | £657,162.65 | £1,337,189.74 |
Across our Various digital subscription services, our departmental spend, broken down by year is:
FY2021/22 - £101,225
FY2022/23 - £103,636
FY2023/24 - £165,991*
* 2023/24 the Department started managing 91 local prison X accounts.