Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse has been of (a) due diligence checks and (b) other work carried out by or on behalf of his Department in relation to the Seaborne Freight contract.

For all three freight contracts, the combined costs of external legal, financial and project assurance advice up to the end of December 2018 were approximately £800,000. Subsequent costs up to termination cannot yet be derived as contracts are still live and invoices pending.