Stormont Spends Five Million on Spin Doctors
01 February 2012
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Since coming to Stormont I have exposed a litany of examples of how Stormont squanders public money on things which deliver nothing of benefit to ordinary people. But for Northern Ireland departments to spend around five million pounds a year on spin doctors seems particularly outrageous even by Stormont’s stands of excess.
“One department – OFMdFM – spends almost £800,000 a year on running its press office while another – DSD – employs twenty staff. Across the press offices of the departments who have responded to my questions a total of 161 staff are employed.
“Even allowing for some of those staff being in administration roles it looks like Belfast might well have more press officers than journalists!
“It is testament to the failures of this executive that it has to spend such a vast sum of public money on propaganda and employ a small army to feed the press stories in an attempt to play up its incredibly meagre achievements.
“It is an absolute scandal that at a time when Stormont is discussing plans to close schools and hospitals across our Province – I think particularly of the threat to the Causeway Hospital which is so important to the people of North Antrim – five million can be found to pay for spin doctors.”
Note to editors:
Mr Allister’s questions and the answers received are as follows. To date the Department of the Environment has not responded to Mr Allister’s question which was tabled on 1st December last year. This is in spite of the fact that Standing Order 20 (B) places a mandatory duty on Departments to respond within 10 working days.
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail the current (i) number; and (ii) annual cost of staff employed in their Department's Information Service.
The Department’s Information Service provides a range of communication services within OFMDFM and a planning, co-ordination and corporate support role across all NI Executive departments. There are three business areas within the Department’s information service, the details of which are laid out below.
OFMDFM Ministerial Press Office and Corporate Support
Within the press office there are currently four staff working directly to the four OFMDFM Ministers.
There are four staff who work on publications, the web and social media.
The Director and Deputy Director, supported by a Personal Secretary provide a strategic communications role across the twelve NI Executive departments.
There are six staff who work in a corporate support role providing a range of services which include the central management of cross department contracts and the management of a professional development programme for EIS staff.
The total cost for these staff in 2010/11 was £788,217.
Government Advertising Unit
There are currently fourteen staff employed in the Government Advertising Unit. The unit is a shared service centre, funded and governed by the twelve NI Executive departments and the full cost is not directly borne by OFMDFM. It was established to apply specialist expertise to the management of government advertising to improve value for money and effectiveness in communicating with the public. The unit delivered estimated savings of more than £1 million gross to the public sector during 2010/11.
NI Direct
There are currently seven staff employed in the Central Editorial Team of NIDirect. The team is responsible for the development and maintenance of the NIDirect website. All citizen information from the NI Executive departments’ websites is now maintained by NIDirect. The team is not directly funded by OFMDFM but is funded through DFP’s NI Direct programme. The site went live in April 2009 and to date has delivered 7.7 million visits and 23 million page impressions.
To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how many staff are employed in his Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
The number of staff employed in my Department’s Information Service is detailed in the attached table.
The annual cost of this service at the end of the last financial year totalled £557,923.
Function Grade Number
Press Office Principal Information 1
Officer
Senior Information 1
Officer
Assistant Information 2
Officer
Marketing and Internal Senior Information 1
Communications Officer
Information Officer 2
Executive Officer Grade 1
1
Assistant Information 1
Officer
Information Technology Staff Officer 1
(Internet; Intranet;
Website design)
Executive Officer Grade 1
1
Executive Officer Grade 1
2
Administrative Support Executive Officer Grade 1
1
Executive Officer Grade 1
2
Administrative Officers 3
To ask the Minister for Regional Development how many staff are employed in his Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
The DRD Press Office employs five staff at a cost of Salaries - £204,031 for the 2010/2011 financial year.
To ask the Minister for Social Development to detail the current (i) number; and (ii) annual cost of staff employed in his Department's Information Service.
The current number of staff employed in the Department’s Information Service is 20 and the approximate annual cost is £635,084.
To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development how many staff are employed in her Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development operates its Information Service via Media Services Branch which is made up of two sections, the Press Office and the Graphics Unit. There is a total of 14 staff employed in the Information Service and the total salary costs for 2010/11 were £385,505.
To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure how many staff are employed in her Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
The Department’s Information Service had a total of 6 staff (4 Executive Information Service Officers and 2 Administrative staff) in post during 2010/11.
To ask the Minister of Education how many staff are employed in his Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
The Department of Education’s Information Service is part of the Communications Team which comprises a total of 13 staff - 5 information officers, 4 administrative staff and a Desktop Publishing Unit comprising 4 graphic design staff. In addition to press and public relations work the Communications Team has responsibility for the Departmental website and intranet, managing webmail queries, updating the NI Direct website, design and print of documents, preparation of ministerial briefings relating to school visits and oversight of internal communications. Salary costs for the 2010/11 year, when there were 14 members of staff, were £387,522.
To ask the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the current (i) number; and (ii) annual cost of staff employed in her Department's Information Service.
There are 5 information officers and 2 administrative staff working in Departments information service.
To ask the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail the current (i) number; and (ii) annual cost of staff employed in his Department's Information Service.
The current number of staff employed in the Department’s Information Service is 6.4 (FTE) and the annual cost of these staff is £211,044.80.
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail the current (i) number; and (ii) annual cost of staff employed in his Department's Information Service.
The information requested is shown in the table.
Table: DHSSPS Information Office Staffing and Cost
Number of Information Office Staff 11
Annual Cost (2010/11) £370,907
To ask the Minister of Justice how many staff are employed in his Department’s Information Service; and what is the annual cost of this service.
There are twenty four members of staff employed in the Department and its Agencies Information Services. The annual cost of this service is £677,391 approximately.
The responsibilities of the twenty four staff are as outlined below:
Responsibility Number of Staff
Information Officers on loan from 10
the Executive Information Service
Administrative staff who provide a 10
media monitoring service for other
NI Departments
Provide a press office function 4
within the NI Courts and Tribunal
Service
Of the ten Information Officers on loan from the Executive Information Service seven are in DOJ core two in NIPS and one in YJA.
