Government saves GBP330 million for taxpayers through more efficient communications

This means that the profession reduced spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament, according to the latest audited figures. Government has also increased the effectiveness and capability of its communicators, winning over 80 national and international awards over the past year.

Providing the best value for taxpayer money will remain at the forefront of the government’s communication efforts. The total value of planned proactive communications in 2015 to 2016 is expected to be 50% less than it was in 2009 to 2010.

These savings have been possible thanks to the policies put in place since 2010 to make sure that every taxpayer penny counts. Policies include:

• introducing spending controls to ensure that government only invests in necessary communications activity
• continuing to back successful campaigns such as the GREAT campaign, which has provided £1.2 billion in economic returns since 2012
• switching to lower and no cost channels, including digital and nudge techniques
• using resources from across departments to streamline our approach and remove duplication

Partnering with the private sector has also played an important role in making savings:

• half of the Go Ultra Low campaign was delivered at no cost to government through joint funding from industry
• the Superfast Broadband campaign, in partnership with the British Chambers of Commerce, helped to get the message to more than 92,000 businesses at no cost

Executive Director of Government Communications Alex Aiken said:

In the past, taxpayers’ money was too often spent on expensive and unnecessary marketing and advertising campaigns. We’ve put an end to that, and ensured that we track the implementation and effectiveness of everything we do.

Today’s figures are impressive, but we won’t stand still. That’s why we recently released our communications plan for the year ahead which commits us to delivering further value for taxpayer’s money and a more skilled, effective and focused service than ever before.

In July the government launched the fourth annual Government Communications Plan, setting out its overall vision for the Government Communication Service (GCS). The plan provides a clear focus for the year ahead and sets out how the government will:

• provide even more streamlined and effective campaigns
• build stronger partnerships with other organisations to support these campaigns
• strengthen the skills of government communicators