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Iraq Committee of Inquiry

Volume 503: debated on Wednesday 6 January 2010

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate she has made of the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) likely duration of the Iraq Inquiry. (308554)

We anticipate that the cost of the Iraq inquiry will be comparable with previous similar Privy Counsellor inquiries. It is too soon to know the full costs, but the Government are committed to publishing the costs in due course. The Prime Minister said in his statement to the House on 15 June 2009 establishing the inquiry that he expected that the inquiry will take at least a year.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what costs other than staffing costs incurred on the preparation of Government briefing papers had been incurred in respect of the Iraq Inquiry on the latest date for which figures are available. (305460)

A number of Government Departments are providing papers to the Iraq Inquiry. The costs of doing this will be met from within existing budgets.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office according to what scale allowances are paid to (a) members of and (b) witnesses called to give oral evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. (305461)

The members of the Iraq Inquiry are paid at the following rates: Chairman—£790.00 per day; Committee members—£565.00 per day. Witnesses who are current or former Ministers, civil servants or military officers may claim reasonable travel costs and out of pocket expenses for attending evidence sessions in line with standard departmental entitlements and rates.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many officials of each grade are employed to provide support for the Iraq Inquiry during its oral evidence sessions. (305462)

The breakdown by grade of the 19 staff in the Iraq Inquiry secretariat is as follows:

Number

Senior civil service

4

Band A (grade 6 and 7)

8

Band B2 (HEO/SEO)

3

Band B1 (EO)

2

Band C (AO)

2

It is for the inquiry, which is independent, to decide how it deploys its staff across its areas of work. In addition to the staff in the secretariat, the inquiry has engaged five temporary administrative and security staff from recruitment agencies to assist with the running of the oral hearings.