Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of the former ministers that have been given legal representation paid for by the public purse for (a) parliamentary and (b) Privileges Committee inquiries.

There are no plans to publish such a list.

There is an established precedent across multiple administrations based on the principle that former Ministers, of all political colours, may be supported with legal representation after they have left office – when matters relate to their time and conduct as a Minister of the Crown. This has been the case in public inquiries into matters such as BSE, Iraq, Grenfell, Infected Blood, Child Sexual Abuse and Covid.

However, the principle is not limited to public inquiries and has been applied in other contexts, for example, litigation. The same principle can also be applied to Parliamentary inquiries, where it relates to one’s conduct as Minister of the Crown.