The Department was formed on May 2002. In each of the past four years the Department for Transport has spent the following on external legal advice:
£ 2002-03 307,719.00 2003-04 1,100,701.29 2004-05 1,857,275.91 2005-06 910,430.50 Notes: 1. The Driving Standards Agency cannot answer this question without reaching the disproportionate cost threshold. 2. The Vehicle Certification Agency has a nil return within UK In respect of its overseas offices it is de-minimus (<£2,000 pa) over the last four years. A further breakdown could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. 3. It is not possible for Highways Agency to reply to this question without incurring disproportionate cost as individual case files would need to be examined to ascertain the information requested. The agency’s reporting system does not differentiate between costs for legal advice and other legal services such as conveyancing, which may or may not include providing legal advice. In addition, in many cases, settlements are paid to claimants via the agency’s legal representative such as Treasury Solicitor, and these amounts are also not differentiated in the accounting system and therefore cannot be ascertained without incurring disproportionate cost. Further, legal advice is also provided by some of the consultancies employed by the agency, the costs of this legal advice can not be differentiated from costs of other services provided.