To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the costs of (a) setting up and (b) operating a supreme court; and what estimate he has made of the cost of continuing the appellate function of the House of Lords. (156651)

As announced on 14 June 2007 the estimated running costs of the UK supreme court is £12.3 million per annum at 2010-11 prices. The annual running cost includes a rental figure of £2.1 million per annum, increasing at a rate of 2.5 per cent. per annum. The rental figure covers the cost of the renovation and will be paid to Kier Group over a 30-year period.

There are additional set up costs of £5.9 million for the Ministry of Justice programme team over the five years of the implementation programme and £14.3 million for items such as Ministry of Justice professional adviser fees and the non-capital element of the fit-out costs including loose furniture, IT and library books.

As previously announced the running costs of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords were estimated at £3.2 million per annum at 2004 prices. This figure excludes building and services costs as it is not possible to extract these specific sums from the overall running costs of the House of Lords.