Written question asked by Catherine McKinnell (Labour) on Wednesday, 6 December 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 December 2017 (named day). It was answered by Baroness Coffey (Conservative) on Tuesday, 12 December 2017 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

ClientEarth

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2017 to Question 1033 on Nitrous Oxide: EU Law, how much the Government has spent on legal fees to defend litigation brought by ClientEarth in respect of air quality compliance.

Answer

Defra released details of our legal costs since 2015 on 20 October in response to a Freedom of Information request, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653544/RFI_9313__AQ_legalcosts_20102017.pdf.

Costs prior to 2015 were around £74,000.

A further challenge is ongoing and so further costs are likely to be incurred.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 117945
Session: 2017-19
Related items: Nitrous Oxide: EU Law
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs EU law Legal costs Nitrous oxide ClientEarth
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk