Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost was to the public purse of (a) legal fees and (b) related costs incurred for the rejection of freedom of information requests between 30 March 2020 and 9 September 2024 seeking the publication of the report entitled, The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal.

We do not know the total legal fees incurred as we have not yet been billed for the complete period between 30 March 2020 to 9 September 2024, but we expect the final cost to be in the region of £20,000-£22,500. There was no awarding of costs in the First Tier Tribunal judgment that the Department must disclose the Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal report. The only other costs incurred were Home Office officials’ time.