Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department and has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

The department provides details of the funding spent on advertising and publicity as part of its annual reports and accounts, which are published in the usual way on GOV.UK:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.
• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63a025c5e90e07587bd8ba57/DfE_consolidated_annual_report_and_accounts_2021_to_2022_accessible.pdf.

The department uses marketing to support the delivery of strategic aims and government priorities, including to recruit teachers, reform the skills landscape, and drive take up of products and services like apprenticeships, T Levels and childcare entitlements. Since 2010, there are now 27,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools across the country, 5.4 million apprenticeship starts and the department is delivering the largest ever expansion of free childcare in England.

Spend includes different types of marketing activity, including advertising. Figures for the last three financial years are:

The department does not hold complete records of budget profiles for marketing and communications compared to final confirmed spending.