To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what occasions an interpretation of the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 by UK courts has been challenged at the European Court of Human Rights; and what the cost to the public purse was in each case. (274036)

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not compile statistics of the kind sought. Given the requirement for applicants to exhaust their domestic remedies before taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights, many cases against the United Kingdom in that Court since the entry into force of the Human Rights Act have involved issues that have already been considered in the context of the Act. Where the application has resulted in an admissibility decision or judgment by the Court, these are available publicly on the Court's website at

http://www.echr.coe.int