Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43742, how much his Department (a) has spent on legal advice to date and (b) forecasts will be spent on legal advice up to March 2019.

The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) has paid a total of £2,874,304.63 to the Government Legal Department (GLD) as of 31 August 2017 since the formation of the Department. The Department currently has a fixed fee agreement with the GLD of £3.7m per annum for the provision of approximately 40 (full time equivalent) staff who are providing dedicated legal services to DExEU. The department regularly reviews the level of resource required for all activities including legal advice.