§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what legal costs have been incurred by his Department in each of the last four years. [34283]
§ Angela EagleExpenditure by the Home Office on external legal costs can be split into two main areas:
- (i) Litigation: This includes judicial review proceedings (eg challenges to decisions by the Immigration and Nationality Division or the Prison Service), personal injury claims, employment tribunal cases, commercial litigation and other miscellaneous disputes;
- (ii) Commercial legal advice: This includes advice on procurement (eg contracts to build new prisons or the installation of new computer systems).
Home Office litigation is handled by the Treasury Solicitor's Department who also provide and/or manage external legal services on some Home Office procurement projects. Over the last four years the Home Office expenditure with the Treasury Solicitor's Department is as follows:
465W
Year £ 1998–99 14,487,753 1999–2000 11,710,362 2000–01 16,781,326 2001–021 13,809,191 1 To date These figures include VAT and disbursements eg Counsels' fees and fees of external solicitors. The figures are gross. They do not take account of recovered costs. Neither do they include costs paid to third parties by way of damages or compensation.
In addition the individual Units in the Home Office instruct Counsel or external solicitors direct without going through the Treasury Solicitor's Department. No central record is kept of such expenditure and to obtain such details would incur a disproportionate cost. The figures above also do not include the cost of the Home Office Legal Adviser's Branch.