Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse has been of the Government's appeals which were heard in the case of R (on the application of P and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 321; and what the cost to the public purse has been of the Government's decision to appeal that judgment.

Costs recorded by the Government Legal Department to date, on behalf of the Secretaries of State for Justice and the Home Department, in the appeals from the High Court judgments in the cases of P and others, amount to £94,334.00. It should be noted that these figures may include some work relating to the High Court’s consideration of the cases, and similarly there may be early work carried out relating to the appeals which is not captured in this figure. This figure does not include costs of other parties which may be borne by the Government (the Secretary of State for Justice is committed to pay one of the parties’ capped reasonable costs of appeal).