Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in his Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.

Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the format requested. More generally, I would refer the hon. Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2004, Official Report,17709 and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, column 1901-1904.