To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many press
and public relations staff are employed by (a) UK Trade and Investment, (b) FCO Services,
(c) Wilton Park, (d) the British Council, (e) the Great Britain-China Centre, (f)
the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and (g) the Westminster Foundation for Democracy,
(h) Government Communications Headquarters and (i) the Secret Intelligence Service;
how many of those 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.
<p>The number of press and public relations staff employed in each organisation is
<br>as follows:</p><p><br>FCO Services: 0.5 full-time equivalent <br>Wilton Park:
0 <br>The British Council: 7 <br>The Great Britain-China Centre: 0 <br>The Marshall
Aid Commemoration Commission: 0 <br>The Westminster Foundation for <br>Democracy:
0</p><p>i) The number of press and public relations employees who <br>earn more than
£50,000 in each organisation is as follows:</p><p>FCO Services: 0 <br>Wilton Park:
0 <br>The British Council: 1 <br>The Great Britain-China <br>Centre: 0 <br>The Marshall
Aid Commemoration Commission: 0 <br>The Westminster <br>Foundation for Democracy:
0</p><p>ii) No press and public relations employee <br>earns more than £100,000 in
any of the organisationslisted above.</p><p>iii) <br>The total expenditure on press
and public relations by each organisation in <br>2014/15, excluding staff costs, is
as follows:</p><p>FCO Services: £21,312</p><p>Wilton Park: Nil <br>The British Council:
£126,041 <br>The Great <br>Britain-China Centre: Nil <br>The Marshall Aid Commemoration
Commission: Nil</p><p>The Westminster Foundation for Democracy: Nil</p><p>It is long
standing government policy not to publish Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ)
and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) expenditure or staff figures to the requested
level of detail. However, other data on the intelligence agencies' expenditure and
staff numbers are normally published in the annual reports of the Intelligence and
Security Committee of Parliament.</p><p>Across Government 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 the government reduced communications
spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.</p>
