Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent on producing social media videos and graphics for use on Ministerial social media accounts since January 2020.

We are now in a digital age, where social media and digital communications are an essential part of government, helping inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

In addition to the Civil Service Code, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code/the-civil-service-code the Government Communications Service offers propriety in digital and social media guidance and is available to discuss questions relating to social media when working with ministers, the guidance can be found here: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/guidance/professional-standards/propriety/propriety-in-digital-and-social-media/.

The department employs an in-house social media team to use digital channels and create content to communicate departmental policies online. It is often appropriate for content relating to government policies, guidance and announcements, created by civil servants, to be amplified or posted on other channels including ministers' own social media accounts where this helps drive wider engagement from the public.