Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department operates 25 social media accounts in total. Of these, seven are Department-branded accounts, including two specifically focused on adult social care recruitment. The remaining 18 accounts are operated by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and are branded according to specific public health campaigns, such as Better Health, Start for Life, Couch to 5K, and FRANK. These accounts operate across various platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Strava.

In terms of social media subscriptions, the Department maintains one premium subscription on X for social listening purposes.

The following table shows the Department's social media advertising spend across platforms for the last three financial years:

Source: Department of Health and Social Care

Note: These figures include spending across Departmental and OHID accounts. Some advertisements were run from NHS England accounts but were funded by the Department/OHID. YouTube advertising spend is not included as this is categorised as online video rather than social media advertising.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

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 full departmental response is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Social media accounts are managed locally across the various departments within the Ministrt of Defence (MOD). Any costs associated with social media platforms including advertisements are also managed within individual teams’ departmental budgets. A list of the main MOD social media accounts are published on Gov.UK via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence/about/social-media-use.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the cumulative level of debt held by local authorities in each of the last 15 years.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government collects data returns from local authorities including their borrowing and investment information. These returns are collated and published by MHCLG on gov.uk. There are various metrics by which debt can be measured. We have provided links to relevant information along with a summary what is available in each:

• Borrowing and investment live tables - Live tables on local government finance - GOV.UK. This dataset shows all UK local authorities’ borrowing and investment on a quarterly basis. The data is split by each authority dating back to 2014. There is also an annual summary table which shows the cumulative balances on an annual basis.
• Capital expenditure, receipts and financing - Local authority capital expenditure, receipts and financing - GOV.UK. This dataset is an annual return collected from English authorities only and dates back to 2000. These returns explain in more detail the expenditure of each authority and how these are financed, including each authority’s year end debt position, individually and in aggregate.

Other government departments including HMT and The Office of National Statistics provide their own datasets. One such example would be: LG: Local government gross debt - Office for National Statistics. This is not owned by MHCLG however does provide aggregate local government gross debt from 1966 to 2024.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 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 Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

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:

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, 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 Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, 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 Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

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.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

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.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

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.

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:

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.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

The Scotland Office operates 6 social media accounts across X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and Threads. It does not have any paid social media subscriptions.

The amount spent on advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years was:

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