Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) press officers, (b) internal communications officers, (c) external communications officers, (d) communications strategy staff and (e) any other communications staff were employed by his Department in 2018-19; and what the total cost of their salaries and any on-costs was in that period.

The Communications directorate within MHCLG consists of two divisions – External Communications and Corporate Communications.

The total staff costs for External Communications in 18-19 was £1.53 million. External Communications consisted of 21 staff in post at April 2018 and 29 staff in post at March 2019. Staff in this division include press officers/external communications officers and management.

The total staff costs for Corporate Communications in 18-19 was £1.76 million. Corporate Communications consisted of 31 staff in post at April 2018 and 35 staff in post at March 2019. Staff in this division include internal communications officers, communications strategy staff and management.