§ Dr. CableTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the estimated public costs of the BSE Inquiry up to the date of expected reporting of the inquiry; of those costs, what has been spent during the inquiry(a) by the inquiry team and its staff and (b) within (i) the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, (ii) the Department of Health and (iii) other departments and in support of their current and ex-civil servants, (c) supporting current or previous external Government advisers and (d) supporting the relatives of people with vCJD. [112441]
§ Ms QuinThe estimated public cost of the BSE Inquiry, including the costs of liaison units and legal support for witnesses from the main departments involved, up to the date of expected reporting is about £27 million. This includes
(a) The BSE Inquiry, including reimbursement of direct costs incurred by relatives of people with vCJD attending the hearings: £16 million;(b)(i) Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Liaison Unit, including support to current and former officials, former Ministers and current and previous external government advisers: £7.63 million;(ii) Department of Health Liaison Unit, including support to current and former officials and former Ministers: £2.73 million;(iii) Other administrations and departments sponsoring the Inquiry—liaison units including support to current and former officials and former Ministers: £0.5 million.(c) Costs of support for current or previous external government advisers cannot be fully separated out and are therefore included in (b) (i) above;(d) Reimbursement of direct costs incurred by relatives of people with vCJD attending the hearings: £70,000, included in (a) above.
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the total amount of public money spent to date in the BSE Inquiry on fees for lawyers not directly employed by the Civil Service; and of these how much has been spent(a) on fees for (i) the Inquiry Chair, (ii) the solicitor to the inquiry and (iii) the main counsel to the inquiry, (b) in support of external Government advisers, (c) in support of employees or ex-employees of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and (d) in support of employees or ex-employees of the Department of Health. [112442]
§ Ms QuinThe total amount of public money spent to date on the BSE Inquiry for lawyers not directly employed by the Civil Service is about £9.1 million. Further costs are still being incurred.
(a) The Chairman of the Inquiry and the solicitor to the Inquiry have been paid their normal salaries as public servants while involved in the Inquiry. The Counsel team to the Inquiry has so far cost around £1.7 million. It is not appropriate to provide an indication of fees for individual Counsel;(b) In support of external government advisers: £0.33 million;720W(c) In support of employees or ex-employees of MAFF: £4.95 million;(e) In support of employees or ex-employees of DH: £1.41 million
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the direct and opportunity costs met by(a) witnesses to the BSE inquiry and (b) their employers; and what level of reimbursement for such costs has been made from public funds. [112439]
§ Ms QuinWe are not in a position to estimate the direct and opportunity costs to witnesses or their employers of the Inquiry. Serving civil servants have participated in the Inquiry as part of their employment and relevant direct costs—travel and subsistence—are met from local budgets. Reimbursement from public funds of direct costs incurred by witnesses, who are no longer serving officials, in preparing and giving evidence to the Inquiry which have been paid by the Inquiry, MAFF, DH and other sponsoring departments, amounts to about £60,000.
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to evaluate the relationship between the costs and outcome of the BSE Inquiry. [112438]
§ Ms QuinQuestions about the relationship between the costs and outcome of a public inquiry can only be addressed once the Report has been received by the Government and assessed by all the parties concerned.