§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) of 16 January 2002,Official Report, column 289, if the cost he quoted of the inquiry 205W included (a) the cost to the Ministry of Defence, (b) the anticipated future costs to the Northern Ireland Office, (c) the cost of Lord Saville's salary and (d) the cost of legal aid; and if he will make a statement of the total cost (i) to date and (ii) which is anticipated. [31268]
§ The Prime MinisterThe figure of £52 million in my previous answer was the expenditure by the inquiry to 7 January 2002. That cost is met by the Northern Ireland Office. For the anticipated future cost, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) on 17 December 2001,Official Report, column 40W.
For details of the cost to the Ministry of Defence, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for the armed forces to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) on 14 January 2002, Official Report, columns 2–3W. Other Departments have incurred some costs as a result of a relatively small amount of staff time being deployed on these issues.
Lord Saville continues to receive his salary as a Law Lord, which is met from the Consolidated Fund.
No expenditure has fallen to the budget of the Legal Aid scheme in Northern Ireland as a result of the Bloody Sunday inquiry.