Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Rapid Response Unit.

Following a successful period of pilot operations from April 2018, the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) was recently given permanent funding. The RRU is helping government to understand the increasingly complex online news environment. This ensures government communications are impactful and that we are able to act with speed to ensure we tackle false information identified online, promoting a fact-based public debate.

The unit is driving improvements across government, providing media offices with the tools and skills needed to communicate effectively with citizens in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. This involves raising standards of reporting and evaluation, and ensuring communications professionals are able to quickly and effectively respond to the modern news environment, including mis- and disinformation.