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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the Planning Inspectorate, (c) the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, (d) the Housing Ombudsman, (e) the Homes and Communities Agency, (f) the Leasehold Advisory Service and (g) the Local Government Ombudsman; how many of these employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

The Government communications profession saved £330 million for taxpayers last year compared to 2009 to 2010 by making its campaigns more cost effective.

This means that we reduced the Government communications spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.

The Department employs 17 full time equivalent Press Officers, including the Head of External Communications.Two staff members earn more than £50,000. No staff member earns more than £100,000.

In 2014-15 the Department’s non-staff press spend was £266,235. We expect the full year expenditure in 2015-16 to be approximately £150,000.

The Department has spent nothing on external public relations from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

The Planning Inspectorate employs one senior communications officer who has responsibility for media handling as well as other communication related activities. Salary costs are below £50,000. Given the nature of its role, the Inspectorate does not undertake any media campaigns or marketing of its services.

The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre does undertake some public relations spending in its capacity as a commercial trading fund to generate sales leads for the venue. It does not have an in-house press office. It spent £36,000 in 2014-15. This spending is fully covered by the revenues from commercial bookings. It does not employ any press or public relations staff.

The Housing Ombudsman does not employ any press or public relations staff or haverelated press spend.

There are no staff at the Homes and Communities Agency who are primarily employed as media and public relations professionals. However there are 10.74 Full Time Equivalent staff who, to varying degrees, undertake some media and PR activity. Two of these staff earn more than £50,000; none earn more than £100,000. Expenditure on press and public relations at the Agency, January to December 2015, was £14,537.26.

Leasehold Advisory Service does not employ any press or public relations staff or have any related press spend.

The Local Government Ombudsman has one member of press or public relations staff. Their salary is less than £50,000. They spent £500 printing their Annual Report.