Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has paid in legal fees in relation to criminal legal aid contracts.

Mr Shailesh Vara

To the end of December 2015, the Legal Aid Agency incurred a total of £141,519 in relation to external legal fees associated with the criminal legal aid contracts.

The external legal advice assisted the GLD commercial team with the drafting of the 2015 Own Client and 2015 Duty Provider contracts.

It is not possible to distinguish the cost of work relating to the criminal legal aid contracts incurred by the Agency’s internal legal teams from other work undertaken.