Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to Answer of 11 May 2020 to Question 40655, what criteria his Department used for selecting the (a) print and (b) online news publications that received government-funded advertising on covid-19.

In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government has developed a national campaign to provide information, guidance and reassurance to the public. As part of this, we have partnered with the newspaper industry to help amplify public information on critical coronavirus messaging and ensure it reaches all communities.

To date, the partnership includes over 600 national, regional and local press and online titles including 47 BAME publications. These titles have been selected by our media buying agency (OMNIGOV) on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level.