§ Lord Palmerasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much public money has been spent to protect the life of Mr. Salman Rushdie since the fatwa against him; and how much of that sum has been recouped from Mr. Rushdie.
§ Baroness BlatchIt is standard practice not to disclose the costs of protecting an individual in order to avoid the risk that the scale of that protection could be deduced. Where police protection is provided it is for the appropriate chief officer of police to decide on the level required and it is not the practice to ask the individual concerned to contribute to the costs.