§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many press officers there were in his Department in each of the last four years; and what was the annual cost of their remuneration over that period. [27471]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownThe Department for Work and Pensions was formed in May 2001. This involved the amalgamation of parts of the Department for Education and Employment (including the Employment Service) with the Department of Social Security.
The current level of full time press officers employed within the new Department for Work and Pensions is 18.
The overall costs of press officers for the last four years have formed part of the budgets relating to the Departments that predated the formation of the Department for Work and Pensions. As such, it would be at disproportionate cost to retrieve precise figures for the remuneration of these staff.