The Government is advertising for a new position to lead "digital engagement" with the public.

The position advertised offers the prospect of earning between £81,600 and £160,000 per year and reports directly to the minister for digital engagement, Tom Watson, and the permanent secretary for government communications, Matt Tee.

The right candidate would have the responsibility to "develop a strategy and implementation plan for extending digital engagement across Government" within six months of joining.

The job ad reads: "In recognition of the huge increase in the use of the internet, digital communities and social media, the Cabinet Office seeks to appoint a highly credible digital communicator to be Director of Digital Engagement across Government.

The post would work across Government departments to encourage the adoption of social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and "challenge them in moving from communicating to citizens on the web to conversing and collaborating with them through digital technology".

The advertisement states the director would: "have a small budget, but two key purposes of the job are to assist Government in making effective use of current digital spend, which runs into many millions, and to enable departments to save significant sums on their engagement activities through complementing traditional face-to-face and postal methods with cheaper digital techniques."

But Tories condemned the new position and stated salary as a "grotesque waste of public money".

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