To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many legal proceedings his Department has lost in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse was in each case. (264559)

The Department lost two cases in 2008; and the cost to the public purse resulting from the legal proceedings was £49,012 in first, and £42,841 in the second.

The resources needed to obtain the information in relation to each of the four years 2004 to 2007 would be disproportionate and over the £750 threshold.