Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what total cost to the public purse is of (a) direct and (b) indirect expenditure by his on external legal advice on disputes over the Chagos Islands.
According to the available records, the FCDO has spent £5,841,662 million on external legal services relating to disputes concerning the British Indian Ocean Territory. This includes Government Legal Department costs, as well as counsel fees, in respect of the arbitral proceedings brought by Mauritius under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice, as well as relevant domestic litigation. It also includes the UK's contribution to the cost of the tribunal established for the arbitral proceedings brought by Mauritius.