Departments: Legal Costs

Grant Shapps
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent by his Department on legal fees in each of the last five years.

Barry Gardiner
Legal fees of counsel and solicitors in private practice incurred by this Department and its agencies over the past five financial years are as follows:

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|       |£000 |
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|2002-03|3,107|
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|2003-04|2,810|
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|2004-05|4,615|
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|2005-06|3,975|
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|2006-07|1,754|
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