Government Communications - Communications Committee Contents

CHAPTER 5: TRENDS IN GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS

126.  The Phillis Review stated: "Our work was made harder by the lack of readily available statistics on the scale of the government's communications effort—an illustration, perhaps, of its current status."[58] Four years after the Phillis Review made this observation, little has changed. Like the Phillis Review, we found it difficult to obtain figures detailing the cost of Government communications.

127.  The Cabinet Office told us that it was not possible to say how much each Government department spends on communications because it is "very difficult to specify … what constitutes 'communications' civil servants" and because "different departments will organise their business in different ways. Not all the communications functions in a department will be part of a single communications directorate with a single budget for communications" (p 130).

128.  Because of this, the Cabinet Office failed to supply us with any figures about the costs of communications in each department, although the heads of communications at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health were each able to give us figures for their communications budgets. (See Appendix 8).

129.  It is significant that the Government does not record or monitor the overall cost of communications across departments. For example, the Cabinet Office could not give us a figure for the overall cost of Government communications (p 159). The apparent lack of such statistics not only makes it difficult for external reviews of Government communications, but also it must hamper the Government's own ability to monitor performance. If the Government cannot keep track of communications costs, it cannot adequately measure the value for money it is achieving in this area.

130.  The cost of communications was not the only area where it was hard to obtain reliable statistics. We also struggled to obtain reliable and comparable figures on the number of people employed in communications across government.

131.  After repeated requests for information about the size and growth of Government communications, the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell supplied us with the figures in Tables 2 and 3. Table 2 shows the growth in the number of entries in the White Book of Contacts in Government Departments and Agencies, which is a list of contacts for the media and other agencies. It is clear from the Government's own estimates that the number of communications staff has increased by 73 per cent in the past 10 years. However, the Cabinet Office warned against reading too much into these figures: "The White Book figures are only ever a snapshot in time and are not intended to be a comprehensive guide to 'communication staff' in the Civil Service" (p 130).

132.  It is important to consider the context of this growth. Since 1998 the internet has become a more important communications tool. The public expect information to be provided on the internet, and they expect it to be used as a consultation tool. This has meant that new staff have been recruited in areas such as website design and operation.

133.  However, there has been no corresponding decrease in numbers of staff working in traditional forms of communication because the Government has had to maintain existing channels of communication and information provision (see paragraph 117). The definition of 'communications' is wider than ever. The Phillis Review called on the Government to engage more in a two-way dialogue with the public. This and other changes have required an increase in the number of staff employed.

TABLE 2
The number of communications staff employed by each Government department

Department	December 1998	September 2008
Cabinet Office	23	38
Ministry of Justice	-	77
Lord Chancellor's Department	16	-
Department for Culture, Media and Sport	13	21
HM Customs and Excise	10	-
HM Revenue and Customs	-	58
Board of Inland Revenue	17	-
Ministry of Defence	109	255
Department for Communities and Local Government	-	77
Department for Education & Employment	100	-
Department for Children, Schools and Families	-	68
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills	-	42
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	-	106
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (including agencies)	87	-
Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food	42	-
Foreign and Commonwealth Office	40	46
Department of Health	101	122*
Home Office	46	98
Department for International Development	17	24
Prime Minister's Office	14	31
Department of Trade and Industry	82	-
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform	-	London only: 67
Department for Transport (including agencies)	-	105
HM Treasury	18	28
Department for Social Security	60	-
Department for Work and Pensions	-	113
TOTAL	795	1,376

Source: Cabinet Office written evidence, p 130.

134.  The definition of 'communications staff' is broad and open to interpretation, but the post of 'press officer' is better defined and understood. We asked Sir Gus for figures comparing the number of departmental press officers now and 10 years ago and these are shown in Table 3 (the figures do not include support staff, vacancies or special advisers). They show that the number of government press officers employed in central Whitehall departments has grown by 72 per cent in the last 10 years—practically the same percentage as for communications staff. They also show significant differences in the number of press officers each department employs.

TABLE 3

The number of press officers in central Whitehall departments

Department	December 1998	September 2008
Cabinet Office	14	11
Lord Chancellor's Department	3	-
Ministry of Justice	-	34
Department for Culture, Media and Sport	8	11
HM Customs and Excise	3	-
HM Revenue and Customs	-	34
Board of Inland Revenue	7	-
Ministry of Defence (Central press office staff only)	12	33
Department for Communities and Local Government	-	21
Department for Education and Employment	27	-
Department for Children, Schools and Families	-	20
Department for Innovation, Universities and skills	-	13
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	-	19
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Central staff only)	32*	-
Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food	9	-
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Not including overseas posts)	17	20
Department of Health	13	26
Home Office	18	37
Department for International Development	6	8
Prime Minister's Office	8	9
Department of Trade and Industry	22	-
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform	-	16
Department for Transport (Central staff only)	-	13*
HM Treasury	7	8
Department for Social Security	10	-
Department for Work and Pensions	-	40
TOTAL	216	373

Source: Cabinet Office written evidence, p 131.

135.  The growth in the number of civil service press officers is very considerable. Again, it is important to consider the context of this growth. In the last decade, the size of the media has grown considerably, not only because of the internet but also 24-hour news channels and new digital television channels. The culture of the news media has also changed. Instead of a set number of daily news bulletins each day there is now an expectation for stories to be updated and broadcast 24 hours a day. This was Sir Gus' explanation for the growth in the number of press officers:

"In terms of why the numbers have gone up, well, the demands placed upon press offices have gone up. If you look at that number of 373 … there are more than 373 journalists newly accredited to these two Houses ... There are 3,000 journalists in the BBC alone and that is just one institution. If you look at TV broadcasters in terms of the licences over the last ten years the number of licences for TV broadcasters has gone up by a factor of 15; the number of local radio stations has gone up during the same period by 220 per cent. I do not actually have any data on what the number of political blogs was 10 years ago but there are now over 1,600" (Q 469).

136.  While we recognise this argument, we also think it can be misleading. During our last inquiry, into the ownership of the news, we found that although there has been an increase in ways to access the news, there has been no corresponding increase in the amount of newsgathering. The core of the information revolution is the repackaging of existing information rather than newsgathering.[59] We do not accept that changes in the media necessarily explain the need for more press officers. However, the increase in staff numbers does underline the importance of the Government properly and accurately assessing its spending in this area.

137.  Phillis recommended that each department should conduct an annual review on the effectiveness of its communications, and that the Permanent Secretary, Government Communications should collate this information to produce an annual report on the overall effectiveness of Government communications. This recommendation has not been implemented. Without reliable and comparable figures showing how much departments spend on communications, it is impossible to ascertain whether value for money is being achieved; to measure the success of new communications initiatives; or to compare departmental performances in order to learn from good and bad practice.

138.  We therefore recommend that the Cabinet Office should collate annual statistics on the costs of Government communications across departments. The Permanent Secretary should lead this reform. He should report annually to the Head of the Home Civil Service, and to Parliament, on the overall size, budget and effectiveness of Government communications.

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58   Ibid., p 9. Back

59   Select Committee on Communications, 1st Report (2007-08): The Ownership of the News, (HL 122), paragraphs 205-10. Back