Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse was of external lawyers employed by (a) the Serious Fraud Office and (b) the Crown Prosecution Service in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014 to date.

The amounts spent by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on external lawyers in each of the last four financial years is shown in the following table. Both organisations financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.

The SFO figures include the cost of external counsel, TSol and other legal fees, but do not include temporary agency staff. The SFO spend on counsel fees is published in its annual report. The increased figures for 2012-13 and 2013-14 reflect the revised treatment of VAT on some fees, repayment of some VAT which had been incorrectly recovered in earlier years, and costs relating to some very large cases and other litigation.

The SFO's requirement for additional expenditure in 2013-14 has already been set out to the House in documentation published around its Spring Supplementary Estimate, which has been scrutinised by the Justice Select Committee. The nature of the SFO's work means that it can occasionally incur significant additional legal expenses for its very largest and mostcomplex investigations and prosecutions, such as that into Libor.

The CPS figures are drawn from the CPS's core financial accounting system and they are consistent with the CPS's audited accounts. The great majority of fees for legal work paid by the CPS relates to the services of self-employed barristers and solicitors for crown court casework. The CPS also engages barristers and solicitors to undertake advocacy as agents in magistrates' courts sessions and, occasionally, to provide legal advice on discrete areas of specialist policy.