FOI release

FOI2025/00010S Media Staff

Published 19 March 2025

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST REF: FOI2025/00010S 

Thank you for your email of 26 February 2025 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked: 

1. The total number of staff employed by the department with the words “media”, “communications”, or “press” in their job title as of 01 February 2024. The total salary costs of those staff.  

2. The total number of staff employed by the department with the words “media”, “communications”, or “press” in their job title as of 01 February 2025. The total salary costs of those staff. 

A clarification request was sent to you on 6 March 2025 regarding ‘the total salary costs of those staff.’ On 11 March 2025, you subsequently provided the following information:  

I am referring to the total annualised salary figure of all staff which fall into the criteria. 

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested.   

I can confirm that FCDO Services does hold information relevant to your request, as set out below. 

1. In February 2024, 10 or less members of staff were employed in media related roles containing the words ‘media, communications or press’ in their job title, with a total annualised salary* of £446,794. 

2. In February 2025, 10 or less members of staff were employed in media related roles containing the words ‘media, communications or press’ in their job title, with a total annualised salary* of £439,210. 

*Annualized salaries include, base salary, location allowance and applicable recruitment/retention/market allowances.    

Once an FOI request is answered, it is considered to be in the public domain.  To promote transparency, FCDO Services may now publish the response and any material released on GOV.UK in the FOI releases section.  All personal information in the letter will be removed before publishing.  

Where copies of information have been supplied to you they will continue to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  Most documents supplied by the FCDO will have been produced by government officials and will be protected by Crown Copyright.  To re-use Crown Copyright documents please consult the Open Government Licence v3 on the National Archives website. 

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown Copyright) information. 

If you would like to request a review of our decision, you should write to the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team, FCDO Services, Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK19 7BH (e-mail: FCDOServices.DataProtectionOfficer@fcdo.gov.uk).  Please note you have 40 working days to do so from the date of this letter. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCDO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/  

Yours sincerely, 

FOI Officer 

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team 

FCDO Services