Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) press officers, (b) internal communications officers, (c) external communications officers, (d) communications strategy staff and (e) other communications staff his Department employed in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2015-16; and what the total cost of salaries and on-costs was during those periods.
The structure of the Communications function has changed substantially and the number of staff it employs has reduced considerably since 2009/10, when it cost £3.4 million which equates to approximately £3.8 million in today’s prices.
In 2015/16, the number of communications staff in the positions specified and total salaries (including oncosts) were as follows:
Press Officers – 23
Internal Communications – 5
External communications – NA
Communications strategy – NA
Other – 23
Some Press Officers and Other staff are categorised as external communications
Total Salaries – £2,509,060
In 2016/17, the numbers and total cost were:
Press Officers – 25
Internal Communications – 5
External communications – 16
Communications strategy – NA
Other – NA
Total Salaries – £1,991,542