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WQ.179/2022
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE ASSISTANT CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY S.Y. MEZEC OF ST. HELIER SOUTH
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2022 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2022
Question
“Further to the response to Written Question 284/2021, regarding annual expenditure on Communications and the number of staff employed in Communications, will the Assistant Minister provide an updated response?”
Answer
2021 2022 Spend Spend
(Jan to Aug)
£ £
Staff 2,362,001.07 1,666,690.98 Non-staff 34,711.46 1,455.26
Total 2,396,712.53 1,668,146.24
There are currently 30.61 staff employed within, and under the budget of, the Communications Directorate. This is a reduction from 2021, due to a recruitment freeze in both the Press Office and the Internal Communications teams, which have both gone from six employees to four. Further savings have been made by team members taking on dual tasks (like working in a department and producing video content for others) which has negated the need to recruit directly into the Directorate.
There are 39 States and Government of Jersey communicators operating under the reporting of the Directorate leadership. This includes communicators employed in projects such as Public Health, who are charged to individual departments and not the Directorate.
There have always been more communicators working in the States than those employed by the Directorate. These employees, who are usually on temporary contracts, perform tasks such as stakeholder engagement (including with senior suppliers), public consultation (such as patient groups), and short-term design work (including when there is increased demand as there is at the beginning of the school term or the new year).
Working under the leadership of the Directorate ensures savings can be made in the bulk purchasing of digital and design materials.
As the Directorate is now within the Cabinet Office, a best value review will be undertaken to make sure that the number of communicators is right for the States and the Government. Ministers have asked for a review into communications (which is much wider than just the work of Directorate) and this will inform where activity is best focussed.
Expenditure for 2022 stands at 1,668,146.24 to date, of which 1,666,690.98 are staff costs and £1,455.26 reflects other costs (marketing campaigns, licenses, equipment etc.,).