Councils across London spent £23million last year on their publicity a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The request shows on average they spent £1m each.

The London Evening Standard report:

Tower Hamlets, one of London’s poorest boroughs, topped the list with a bill of £3.2 million, according to its budget documents.

The publicity bills included advertising local authority schemes, recruitment and producing council newspapers or magazines.

Tower Hamlets was followed by Camden with £2.2 million, Barking on £1.5 million and Newham £1.4 million in 2010/11, the last year for which figures are available. All are Labour-run.

However, 11 councils spent more than £1 million, including the flagship Tory boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth and Westminster.

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I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.