§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what legal costs have been incurred by her Department in each of the last four years. [34350]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that time it has incurred the following legal costs in relation to my areas of responsibility:
£ Legal costs July 1999 to March 2000 1,769 April 2000 to March 2001 5,487 April 2001 to March 2002 18,892 These do not include the cost of in-house legal services but include payments made to other Departments for legal 70W services. The figures are gross, do not include costs recovered or recoverable and do not include costs paid to third parties by way of damages or compensation.