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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff in his Department are employed in media relations and communications roles; and how much was spent on the salaries of such staff members in each of the last 10 years.

My Department's central communications function is responsible for media relations and external communications. At 28 February 2017, 26.9 full time equivalent staff were employed in this team. In relation to salaries, the information is not held centrally for the time period requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.