The Departments of Information are organisations within the Foreign Office which are dependent on the Ministry of the Presidency, through the Secretariat of State for Communications, and are integrated in the diplomatic missions.

The Departments are a support instrument for the State's foreign policy actions, focusing especially on the area of information and image creation. In the area of information, the external dimension of all policy actions requires communication activities dedicated to transmitting the objectives and the activities included in the policy action. In the area of image creation, the Departments contribute to accentuating the presence of Spain in foreign media, not only in the political realm, but also in the institutional, economic and social realms. The primary missions of the Departments of Information are:

• To inform, rapidly and concisely, the Secretariat of State for Communications and, through the Secretariat, the Presidency, on all information and commentary related to the Government, to Spain, or to its interests of any kind that appear in the media of the host country. With greater time margins, the Department will assess and analyse the information.
• To inform the media of the host country and the Spanish correspondents accredited there, on information related to the State, to the Government or to anything that affects Spain.

The Department of Information's activities may be grouped into three large areas of action: Information in a broad sense, advice, media relations and image creation, and financial and personnel management.

Information is at the core of the Department's work. Its informative functions include the following:

Monitoring the media in the Department's host country for Spanish news and all matters important to or affecting Spain. This monitoring activity entails rapid communication to the Secretariat of State for Communications of information related to Spain that appears in the local media.

• Relations with local media. The Departments of Information are responsible for distributing all types of information regarding our country. Recipients of this information may include, in addition to the media, cultural and social centres, universities, companies and individuals. 
• Embassy spokesperson representation before the local media. This function corresponds to the Departments of Information as delegated by the Ambassador or upon express instructions from the Secretariat of State for Communications. This means that the Departments of Information constitute the front line of the  Embassy's presence as well as that of dissemination of Spanish news before the media in the host country.
• Regular relations with Spanish correspondents accredited in the country.  In a broad sense, the Department of Information is a support body for the accredited Spanish press and the Minister is the natural spokesperson of the Embassy, without prejudice to the higher-level responsibilities of the Ambassador. 
• Organisation of news coverage for official visits by Spanish authorities to the host country. The Department of Information deals with the accreditation from local authorities for special envoys from the Spanish press; processing permits –as temporary imports– for the working material of photographic and radio journalists and, in general, anything required to facilitate the work of the Spanish press. It also provides credentials to the journalists to attend official events.
• Relations with official bodies in the host country. The functions of the Departments also include maintaining relations with official bodies in the country where they are accredited and with public or private organisations, such as political parties, business groups, etc.

The Departments of Information also have responsibility foradvisory roles, media relations and image creation, which include: creating reports related to their responsibilities; advice on media matters; presence and support at events with media coverage; and answering queries on the Government's public activities or on information published about Spain.

The Departments, as part of the Foreign Office, are responsible for financial and personnel management in order to guarantee the proper working of the Department and the appropriate use of the human and material resources made available to them by the Ministry of the Presidency.