Departments: Legal Costs

Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 19W, on Departments: legal costs, how much of the expenditure on legal fees in each of the last five years was incurred (a) by the Public Prosecution Services, (b) in respect of the Saville inquiry, (c) in respect of the Finucane, Nelson, Hamill and Wright inquiries, (d) by the Crown Solicitor’s Office and (e) by other parts of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Hain
Pursuant to the answer provided on 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 19W, on the Department’s legal costs, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) expenditure is broken down as follows:

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|Legal fees                                       |2002-03  |2003-04  |2004-05  |2005-06  |2006-07   |
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|(a) Public Prosecution Service                   |5,005,857|5,374,952|6,357,772|6,783,071|9,858,615 |
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|(b) Bloody Sunday Inquiry                        |9,746    |3,000    |12,361   |1,733    |65.310    |
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|(c) Finucane, Nelson, Hamill and Wright Inquiries|0        |1,733    |110      |15,177   |10,408    |
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|(d) Crown Solicitors Office                      |160,958  |87,391   |301,283  |364,638  |230,164   |
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|(e) Other parts of NIO Department                |337,587  |117,413  |332,880  |169,411  |705,432   |
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|Total                                            |5,514,148|5,584,489|7,004,406|7,334,030|10,869,929|
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The hon. Member should note that the total figures have changed from the answer given on 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 19W. Some legal costs were omitted in error for which I apologise.

The original answer should have read:

“The Northern Ireland Office (NIO), excluding its agencies and NDPBs, has spent the following on legal fees in each of the last five years:

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|       |Legal fees (£)|
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|2002-03|5,514,148     |
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|2003-04|5,584,489     |
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|2004-05|7,004,406     |
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|2005-06|7,334,030     |
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|2006-07|10,869,929    |
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Legal fees for the NIO have risen substantially in 2006-07, mainly due to expenditure by the Public Prosecution Service on the Omagh bomb trial, and also on the trial of James Fulton and his associates, which proved to be the longest murder trial in NI history. These two cases alone have accounted for an increase in legal expenditure of £2 million. Scale fees for counsel also increased in April 2006, the first increase in a number of years, and this also contributed to overall increase in 06/07.”