Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on (a) external legal advice from Queen's Counsel and (b) other external legal advice between 7 May 2010 and the present day; what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012; to whom such payments were made; for what reasons such legal advice was sought; and what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department was since 7 May 2010.

The information requested is not held centrally in this form and could only be collected at disproportionate cost.