Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on reducing the proportion of the defence budget which is spent on legal fees.

A fraction of one per cent of the defence budget is spent on legal fees, most of it necessary to protect the interests of the taxpayer in securing value for money or in protecting the operational freedom and reputation of the Armed Forces. We have work in hand to reduce opportunistic litigation which is harmful to Defence and diverts funds from the front line.