Government Departments Spending Hundreds Of Thousands On External Legal Advice Despite Million Pound In-House Lawyers

Revealed: The Hundreds And Thousands Spent By The Government On Lawyers

Government departments are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on external legal advice despite having in-house lawyers costing millions.

The figures, for the Department of Education and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), were revealed in parliamentary answers on Tuesday.

Defra, despite having an in-house legal team which cost £3.5m in the first six months of 2011, spent £496,000 on payments to external solicitors and counsel.

Minister Richard Benyon said the figure includes "costs relating to representation in court and not legal advice alone."

And the Department for Education spent nearly £2m on their legal directorate between January and July this year - but still paid out £663,048 for external legal advice.

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