Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in his Department in each year since 1 January 2016.

Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one-off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave Government.

This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.

Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-salary-data.