Dear Ms Brooke

Freedom of Information Request F2009-183

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 28 July 2009. I apologise for the delay in responding. You asked for information on DFID's staffing and funding for publicity and communications, including Freedom of Information, over the last three years.

I confirm that we do hold information relevant to your request. However, over the last three years, DFID has completely re-organised the structure of our Communications Division (previously called Knowledge Division). Staffing figures and costs varied considerably during each year and we are unable to disaggregate the costs of each function. Also, communications is integral to DFID's work and many staff in different teams in our UK headquarters and network of overseas offices are involved in communications work. We, therefore, estimate that the cost of complying with your request in full would significantly exceed the FOI cost ceiling. This ceiling is currently set at £600 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days establishing whether we hold the information and then locating, retrieving and extracting it. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing it any further.

I can, however, provide you with some indicative information on the number of staff, their grades and salary bands for financial year 2008-09 which I hope you will find useful. I can also confirm that DFID does not have a staff newsletter.

Marketing, external communications and press offices

Communications Division continued its restructuring programme in 2008-09, which included significant changes in staff numbers and roles. The following information provides a representative picture of staffing levels for the year as a whole.

In 2008-09 just less than 50 staff at various grades in Communications Division worked in the Press Office and on marketing or external communications activities. The breakdown by grade is given below. Please note that this does not include the Communications Director or the management support team:

Press Office: 20 posts (covering press officers, support staff and speechwriters).

Marketing and External Communications: 29.2 posts (covering marketing, events and exhibitions, audience insight, branding, website content, DFID Communications Network, strategic planning)

Freedom of Information staff

Our central FOI team had 2 full time members of staff in 2008-09. These are the FOI manager and an FOI case officer who handle most FOI requests.

Another 3 other members of Knowledge and Information Management Team contributed to FOI case handling on a regular basis but also had other main duties outside of FOI. These are the Head of Knowledge and Information Management (A1), the Head of the Openness Unit (A2) and the Public Enquiry Point Manager (B1).

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me quoting reference F2009-183.

If you are unhappy with the service we have provided and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to Openness Unit at the address shown above or email [DFID request email]

If you do make a complaint and are not content with the outcome, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted DFID's complaints procedure. You can contact the Information Commissioner at the following address:

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Helen Kennedy

Openness Unit

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED