Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the COP26 unit spent on communications staff in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

Staffing costs for the Government Communication Service within the Cabinet Office, including No10, were approximately £18.3m in 2019-20, £25.1m in 2020-21 and £27.2m in 2021-22. Over this period, the Cabinet Office has responded to extraordinary national and global events, such as COVID-19 and UK Transition, through the running of large centralised public information campaigns.

The figures provided include staff loaned or seconded from other government departments who supported the centralised public information campaigns.

Staffing costs for the Government Communication Service within COP26 was approximately £623,000 in 2020-21 and £1.2m in 2021-22.