Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil servants employed by their Department work in roles primarily focused on (a) transgender policy, (b) diversity, (c) equity and (d) inclusion; and at what annual salary cost.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We cannot provide the number and salary of staff who are employed in roles primarily focussed on a combination of diversity, equity and inclusion. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual members of staff because the data is concerning five or less employees, and the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the cost to the public purse was of feasibility studies conducted by their Department for projects that did not proceed in the last five years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has spent £52,670.85 on Linkedin membership fees and £92,099 on other subscriptions in the financial year 24/25. Costs are exclusive of VAT.
These costs are used to maintain access to the widest possible applicant base for job roles in the department, to increase visibility of the department’s employer brand, and to reach a diverse range of potential applicants.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Civil Service sickness absence reports, which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health, are published on an annual basis. The publication of the 2025 report is currently planned for 18 December 2025.
These annual reports can be found by following the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the total number of licence fee enforcement letters sent by the BBC in the last financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The TV Licensing website states that in 2024/25, approximately 72 million items of mail for TV Licensing were sent. This information is published at https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-administering-the-licence-fee-AB20
The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The Government is therefore not involved in TV Licensing operations and we do not hold exact information on the number of letters it sends to households, or how many of these would relate to enforcement.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on social media advertising by (a) influencer and (b) organisation in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sensitivities exist around aspects of this spend which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many employees in her Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Civil Service Statistics (Table 35) provides information on the number of civil servants earning over £100,000 and in other bandings. The latest information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024
Organograms for Senior Civil Servant roles, including pay details for individuals, are also published by departments on a quarterly basis on data.gov.uk.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of departmental procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
From April 1st 2024, to March 31st 2025, a total of 135 agreements were executed. Out of these, 131 contracts were awarded to British companies, which equates to approximately 97% of contracts.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS does not allow any staff to work remotely outside of the UK on a permanent basis.
Staff may be given time-limited permission to work overseas. Short term overseas approval granted from 1st January - 4th July 2025 are as follows:
Travelling for business reasons: 103 instances
Accompanying a spouse on an overseas military posting: 0 instances
On-call during annual leave: 12 instances
Temporary short term remote working overseas: 9 instances
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on (a) social media promotions, (b) influencer marketing and (c) online advertising in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Commercial sensitivities exist around aspects of this spend which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.