Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the comments of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on Newsnight on 29 July 2024, what the evidential basis is for the claim that the Government Communication Service spent hundreds of millions of pounds on filming content for Conservative ministers’ social media channels.

The government has taken decisive action to reduce wasteful spend, In Fixing the Foundations, the Chancellor identified £100m of savings from non-essential spending on government communications across 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Cabinet Office provided estimates of comms spending during the Public Spending Audit, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2024. Estimates were based on internal Government Communication Service data on campaigns planned by Departments and arm's length bodies at the time of commissioning. These indicate that UK Government was expected to spend £449m on communications campaigns during 24/25. This includes communications considered operationally critical, for example, required to fulfil a statutory duty, life-saving, or required for the efficient functioning of a public service. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that the Government Communications Service is expecting to save £50m in 2024-25 and £85 million from reducing unnecessary communications spend in 2025-26 – exceeding the £100 million target set out in July.