Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the highest hourly rate was that (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's arms-length bodies paid for legal advice in 2018.

The Government Legal Department (GLD) provides almost all of the Department’s legal services. The largest components are for general advisory and commercial advisory work. The Department pays for both of these on a fixed fee basis, and therefore hourly rates are not applicable for these areas of legal work.

Hourly rates do apply where employment advisory and litigation work is provided by the GLD. In 2018, the highest hourly rate paid for such legal services was £180 for a Queen’s Counsel.

It is only where specific legal advice is required that specialist firms of solicitors provide services for the Department, and these are engaged with the guidance of the GLD.

The Department’s arm’s length bodies (ALBs) each have their own arrangements for securing legal services. The following table sets out the highest hourly rates for legal services in 2018 that ALBs paid.

The Department and two of its bodies, NHS England and the Human Tissue Authority, have engaged legal services from organisations other than the GLD. It has not been possible in these instances to provide the information requested as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.