Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on legal fees in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

Steve Webb

The figures below detail the Department’s spend on external legal costs incurred for the financial years 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-2014. These figures include all invoices for fees authorised by the Department’s internal Legal Services, including but not limited to the case management services provided by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, external legal representation and external training and professional development of the Department’s Legal Service. The figures represent actual cost to the Department and therefore only include VAT to the extent such VAT is irrecoverable. The difference in the figures between 2011/2012 and later years is largely as a result of DWP prosecutions work being transferred to the Crown Prosecution Service in April 2012.

2010/11 – £13.59m

2011/12 – £14.45m

2012/13 – £9.38m

2013/14 – £7.718m