Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 184W, on consultants, who the consultants were; what they were contracted to do; and how much each was paid.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The information requested in respect of the Crown Prosecution Service was contained in an answer given to the Rt. Hon Member by the Attorney General on the 16th July (Official Report, Col 678W).
The table below contains details on the consultants used by the SFO since 2010-11.
Year | Contractor | Work type | Amount (£) |
2010-11 | PA Consultancy | Support work for senior management | 986k |
2010-11 | Corven | Development work relating to Deferred Prosecution Agreements; coaching | 480k |
2010-11 | SCC | IT consultancy | 60k |
2010-11 | DTZ | Preparation of Business case for relocation and satellite offices | 24k |
2010-11 | Morland Consulting | Research & Support Strategic Risk Assessment | 10k |
2010-11 | Processflows Ltd | IT consultancy | 1k |
2010-11 | Ravn Systems Ltd | IT consultancy | 7k |
2011-12 | PA Consultancy | Support work for senior management | 208k |
2011-12 | Corven | Consultancy work relating to Deferred Prosecution Agreements | 542k |
2011-12 | BNP Paribas | Lease surrender | 61k |
2011-12 | Ravn Systems | IT consultancy | 44k |
2011-12 | Hill and Knowlton | Communication advice | 1k |
2012-13 | PA Consultancy | Late invoice for work in 2011-12 (as above) | 31k |
2013-14 | SCC | IT consultancy | 32k |
2013-14 | CIO Partners | Preparation of specialist IT specification | 2k |
2013-14 | Others* | Data management reviews | 14k |
* Two individuals carried out some work relating to an incident of data loss
Note 1: Records for this type of expenditure were not properly documented prior to April 2012. Available records are summarised above:
Note 2: The combined total of costs for the year 2010/11 does not match SFO’s previously published figures. The previous figure was understated by £10k because of credits for late invoices relating to 2009/10 which had been incorrectly categorised as consultancy expenditure.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 389W, on the legal profession, what proportion of the money spent on consultancy fees by the Crown Prosecution Service was paid to which companies for what services in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
A table setting out the proportion of the money spent on consultancy fees by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) paid to companies for services in financial years from 2010/11 to 2013/14 has been placed in the Library of the House, together with the corresponding expenditure. The CPS financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse was of external consultants employed by (a) the Serious Fraud Office and (b) the Crown Prosecution Service in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014 to date.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The following table contains details on the expenditure on external consultants by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during the past four complete financial years. Both organisations financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.
Year | External Consultants Expenditure | |
| CPS | SFO |
2010-11 | £684,314 | £1,557,887 |
2011-12 | £13,347 | £856,182 |
2012-13 | £9,793 | £31,142* |
2013-14 | £960 | £48,228 (subject to audit) |
* The expenditure listed for 2012-13 was actually incurred in 2011-12 but not paid until the following year.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse was of external lawyers employed by (a) the Serious Fraud Office and (b) the Crown Prosecution Service in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014 to date.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The amounts spent by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on external lawyers in each of the last four financial years is shown in the following table. Both organisations financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.
Expenditure on external lawyers | ||
Year | CPS | SFO |
2010-11 | £139,219,000 | £4,523,561 |
2011-12 | £115,329,000 | £4,822,253 |
2012-13 | £118,908,000 | £5,956,633 |
2013-14 | £122,929,000 | £19,077,467 |
The SFO figures include the cost of external counsel, TSol and other legal fees, but do not include temporary agency staff. The SFO spend on counsel fees is published in its annual report. The increased figures for 2012-13 and 2013-14 reflect the revised treatment of VAT on some fees, repayment of some VAT which had been incorrectly recovered in earlier years, and costs relating to some very large cases and other litigation.
The SFO's requirement for additional expenditure in 2013-14 has already been set out to the House in documentation published around its Spring Supplementary Estimate, which has been scrutinised by the Justice Select Committee. The nature of the SFO's work means that it can occasionally incur significant additional legal expenses for its very largest and mostcomplex investigations and prosecutions, such as that into Libor.
The CPS figures are drawn from the CPS's core financial accounting system and they are consistent with the CPS's audited accounts. The great majority of fees for legal work paid by the CPS relates to the services of self-employed barristers and solicitors for crown court casework. The CPS also engages barristers and solicitors to undertake advocacy as agents in magistrates' courts sessions and, occasionally, to provide legal advice on discrete areas of specialist policy.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many lawyers were employed in the Treasury Solicitor's Department in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The figures below give the number of lawyers employed in the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol), as at 31st March each year and to date for 2014.
Year | Full Time Equivalent |
31st May 2014 | 910 |
31st March 2013 | 572 |
31st March 2012 | 565 |
31st March 2011 | 464 |
31st March 2010 | 451 |
The figures given are for permanent staff.
Since 2010 TSol has been engaged on a process of transferring lawyers from other departments to TSol as part of the the Shared Legal Services Programme. Sharing legal services brings considerable benefits including greater flexibility and resiliance, more efficient deployment of legal resources, more opportunities for savings and improved knowledge sharing, which in turn supports consistency of legal advice across Government.