To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which (a) lawyers and (b) legal firms have been given work by HM Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office since 1 January 2005; and what the cost was of such contracts, broken down by (i) lawyer and (ii) firm. (164498)

I have been asked to reply.

The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office employed 1,738 counsel from the Attorney-General's approved list between 1 January 2005 and 30 September 2007 at a total cost of £32.0 million.

In the same period the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office also employed the services of 23 legal firms at a total cost of £446,000.

A schedule of total payments to each individual and firm has been placed in the Library.