Legal Costs (Hansard, 12 March 2002)

§ The Solicitor-General

[holding answer 11 February 2002]: The legal costs incurred by my own Department, the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, are included in the Crown Prosecution Service and Treasury Solicitor's Department figures.

Crown Prosecution Service

The legal costs associated with Counsel fees, witness expenses and other prosecution costs incurred by the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last four years were as follows:

£95.2 million in 1997–98
£98.1 million in 1998–99
£99.4 million in 1999–2000
£107.8 million in 2000–01.

'Other prosecution costs' includes costs awarded against the CPS, which in each of the last four years were as follows:

£0.3 million in 1997–98
£0.9 million in 1998–99
£0.3 million in 1999–2000
£0.3 million in 2000–01.

Expenditure on administration related legal costs, comprising Lawyer Agents and Treasury Solicitor's fees, was as follows:

£3.8 million in 1997–98
£4.3 million in 1998–99
£5.3 million in 1999–2000
£6.3 million in 2000–01.

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The cost of employing Counsel and Solicitor advocates in the Crown and Higher Courts increased by 6 per cent. in real terms in 2000–01 compared with the previous year. The increase is a result of greater complexity of cases and length of trails, largely as a result of the introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Treasury Solicitor's Department

The Treasury Solicitor's Department provides legal services to other Government Departments. The legal costs incurred in the last four years were as follows:

£20,063,000 in 1997–98
£20,179,000 in 1998–99
£22,408,000 in 1999–2000
£26,743,000 in 2000–01
£22,340,000 in 2001–02 (to 31 December 2001).

In the course of its work over the last four years, the Treasury Solicitor's Department has also incurred costs instructing barristers and solicitor agents, expert witnesses, inquiry agents and other case expenses. These costs were as follows:

£16,672,000 in 1997–98
£25,945,000 in 1998–99
£25,795,000 in 1999–2000
£31,564,000 in 2000–01
£22,470,000 in 2001–02 (to 31 December 2001).

The vast majority of these costs were recovered through payments from other Government Departments, and were accounted for by them. The Treasury Solicitor's Department incurred the following costs on legal services on its own account for cases undertaken in the general public interest:

£5,307,000 in 1997–98
£3,874,000 in 1998–99
£4,244,000 in 1999–2000
£6,113,000 in 2000–01
£2,139,000 in 2001–02 (to 31 December 2001).

Serious Fraud Office

The Serious Fraud Office makes use of external legal services as part of its normal operational and administrative functions.

The Serious Fraud Office's legal costs fall broadly into three areas:

1. The instruction of counsel in cases;
2. Specific advice from external firms;
3. Other civil litigation work carried out by the Treasury Solicitor's Department.

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The legal costs incurred in each of the last four years were as follows: Instruction of Counsel

£2,563,795 in 1997–98
£2,789,951 in 1998–99
£2,460,647 in 1999–2000
£3,315,211 in 2000–01
£3,568,958 in 2001–02 (to date).

Advice from external firms

£0 in 1997–98
£3,373 in 1998–99
£13,185 in 1999–2000
£43,699 in 2000–01
£19,990 in 2001–02 (to date).

Civil Litigation Work by Treasury Solicitor's Department

£86,229 in 1997–98
£46,447 in 1998–99
£36,036 in 1999–2000
£1,650 in 2000–01
£2,686 in 2001–02 (to date).