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Written question asked by Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party) on Monday, 28 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 30 November 2011. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Thursday, 8 December 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Departmental Communication

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) press officers, (b) internal communications officers, (c) external communications officers, (d) communications strategy officers and (e) other positions with a communications remit were employed by (i) his Department, (ii) its agencies and (iii) each non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department on the most recent date for which figures are available.
Answer

Communicators are employed across defence and the armed forces. They have an important task in explaining to the public, the media, our own people and other audiences—at the local regional, national and international levels—the role of defence, defence activities, capabilities and operations. The main effort for defence communicators at present is explaining our mission in Afghanistan.The latest figures for the numbers involved in communications roles as at 31 March 2011 are shown in the following table, and include all posts for which over 50% of the post's core duties are communications:

MOD/armed forces Trading funds¹ Non-departmental public bodies
Press Officers 108 6 0
Internal Communications Officers 39 4 0
External Communications Officers 334 20 2
Communications Strategy Officers 62 5 1
Other 106 4 0
¹ As at 31 March 2011. Includes 27 full time posts in the Met Office which has since transferred to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

These figures include both military and civilian posts worldwide. They represent a reduction of over 60 communications posts compared with 31 March 2010. Further savings have been made across the communications area during the course of the current financial year and more substantial reductions are planned for future years.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
84175; 537 c428W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Communication Ministry of Defence
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk