Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Counter Disinformation Unit on covid-19 became operational; how many full-time equivalent staff work in that unit; from which Departments those staff were recruited; and whether any new staff have been hired to work in that unit.

Whilst this cross-government counter-disinformation capability was recently stood up to support COVID-19 response efforts, existing structures have been monitoring for disinformation related to the disease as part of their ongoing work.

The capability is resourced full time through existing cross-government teams and there are no additional costs associated with it.

There are a number of organisations that have relevant capabilities and responsibilities which are brought together through this work. This includes existing teams in DCMS, the Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and No10.