Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on (a) communications, (b) advertising and (c) marketing in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Northern Ireland, (iv) Scotland and (v) Wales in each month from August 2020 to December 2020.
From 1 August to 31 December 2020, the Department for Education spent £7.46 million on paid-for communications and campaigns activity, including spend on creative, production, agency fees and paid-for media. Of this, a total of £5.37 million was spent specifically on advertising media buying. It is not possible to break down spend separately by a) communications or c) marketing as these definitions include several areas of overlapping activity. These figures are for spend in England only. The Department does not spend any money on communications, advertising or marketing activity in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Broken down monthly, the spend was:
Month | Communications and campaigns | Advertising media buying |
August 2020 | £1,440,000 | £941,000 |
September 2020 | £392,000 | £51,000 |
October 2020 | £2,800,000 | £2,380,000 |
November 2020 | £1,900,000 | £1,200,000 |
December 2020 | £933,000 | £787,000 |
This activity includes vital work to recruit 30,000 teachers a year and drive the uptake of the new T Level qualification. All our paid-for campaigns are approved and regularly assessed by the Cabinet Office to ensure effectiveness.