Education written question – answered at on 12 October 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average hourly rate paid was to external (a) solicitors and (b) barristers engaged by his Department in 2010-11; what guidance his Department uses in commissioning external legal advice; and if he will publish (i) the names of each external (A) solicitor and (B) barrister engaged by his Department in 2010-11 and (ii) the sums paid in each case.
The Department does not keep a central record of hourly rates paid to external solicitors and cannot therefore provide average hourly rates.
Where possible, the Department instructs barristers from the Attorney-General's panel of Counsel. Details of barristers who are currently on the panel are available from the Treasury Solicitor's Department website at:
www.tsol.gov.uk/attorney_generals_panel_of_counsel.htm
The Attorney-General's panel of Counsel is made up of three London panels which are divided according to experience, as well as a regional panel. The maximum rates paid to barristers on the panels are:
A panel: £120 per hour
B panel: £100 per hour
C panel: £80 per hour
Regional panel: £60 to £110 per hour (depending on experience)
For particularly complex and sensitive matters, the Department instructs First Treasury Counsel. The hourly rate paid to First Treasury Counsel is £220.
The Department is required to seek a nomination from the Attorney-General when it retains leading Counsel. Fees in these cases are individually agreed.
When commissioning external legal advice, the Department uses its internal guidance on the procurement of consultancy services.
For non-contentious matters, the Department instructs solicitors' firms selected from a panel. This panel has been established under a framework agreement to provide legal services to Government bodies and is managed by the Government Procurement Service (formerly known as Buying Solutions). Between the beginning of April 2010 and the end of March 2011, the following sums were paid to panel firms:
£ | |
Bevan Brittan | 989.00 |
Bird and Bird | 12,207.00 |
Davitt Jones Bould | 1,500.60 |
DLA Piper UK LLP | 252,782.70 |
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP | 62,369.75 |
Michelmores LLP | 70,525.23 |
Pinsent Masons | 174,850.60 |
The Department does not keep a separate record of the names of external barristers instructed or sums paid. Extracting this information for the period 2010-11 from the Department's central payments system could be done only at disproportionate cost.
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