Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.

A team of 22.6 full time equivalent (FTE) staff are responsible for processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the Department. They do this alongside other duties including managing requests for personal data.

Responses to FOIA requests are drafted by the teams in the Department and its agencies that hold the requested information.

The Department’s annual reports and accounts include information on departmental expenditure and can be found via the following link: Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 - GOV.UK.