Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information

(asked on 3rd June 2016) - View Source
Questioner
Owen Smith Portrait
Owen Smith
(Labour - Pontypridd)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35718, what his Department's combined legal costs were for the cases EE/2013/0145, EA2013/0148 and EA/2013/0149 heard at the First Tier Tribunal on 22 February 2016.

Answered by
Priti Patel Portrait
Priti Patel
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
This question was answered on 8th June 2016

The total recorded external legal cost of these cases up to March 2016 is around £94,000.

This case raised important issues both for the Department, and for the Government as a whole, with regards to being able to create a safe space for free and frank provision of advice to officials and Ministers. The Government remains of a view that this was a case worth pursuing as the principles here are important ones for the proper conduct of public affairs.

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