To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many legal proceedings naming his Department as a defending party were (a) filed, (b) concluded and (c) dismissed in (i) each of the last five years and (ii) 2008 to date. (241191)

The number of legal proceedings naming the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a defending party (a) filed, (b) concluded and (c) dismissed in 2008 are 58, 25 and 10, respectively.

For each of the five years before 2008, the resources needed to obtain the information would be disproportionate and over the £750 threshold.