Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether there was a cost to the public purse for external legal advice relating to the departure of Lord Mandelson as (a) Ambassador and (b) from the Civil Service.

The Government has established processes to seek external legal advice in line with normal practice. The Government does not routinely comment on specific legal advice that it may or may not have received.