Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the total cost to the public purse is of expenditure by his Department on (a) Government Legal Department costs and (b) external legal advice on complaints related to the sale of Green Deal plans by Home Energy & Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELMS).

Since 2017, the Department has incurred £309,992 on external legal advice in relation to Green Deal activity. This figure cannot easily be disaggregated to give a total for purely HELMS-related costs. The Department has also incurred £79,787 in fees from the Government Legal Department on First Tier Tribunal litigation related to the sale of Green Deal plans by HELMS. The Department gave external legal instructions for a small amount of work prior to 2017 but the details of costs are not readily available.