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March 12, 2012

Leveson Inquiry cost £1.9m in first six months

By Andrew Pugh

  • Official figures show total cost has reached £1,992,600
  • £625,600 spent on legal fees
  • Assessors’ costs reach £76,500

The Leveson Inquiry has cost the taxpayer almost £2m in its first six months – including more than £600,000 in legal fees.

According to official figures it cost £1,992,600 to run the inquiry from mid-July to 31 January.

The single biggest expense was operating costs, which came to £682,100, but this was closely followed by payouts to lawyers, with counsel to the inquiry – including Robert Jay QC and Carine Patry Hoskins – pocketing £536,100.

A further £89,500 went to barristers providing assistance to counsel to the inquiry.

A total of £67,500 was spent on remuneration for the inquiry’s panel of assessors, though it emerged that two of the six-strong team – Liberty director of human rights Shami Chakrabarti and ex-Ofcom chairman Lord Currie – have waived their right to claim fees or expenses for the duration of the inquiry.

The other panel members are Sir David Bell, former chairman of the Financial Times; Elinor Goodman, one-time political editor of Channel 4 News, George Jones, former political editor of the Daily Telegraph, and Sir Paul Scott-Lee, former chief constable of West Midlands police.

The National Union of Journalists received £10,700 from the inquiry to meet costs involved in submiting evidence on behalf of reporters.

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Public hearings began on 14 November and the inquiry sat for 35 days up to 31 January. At its present rate the inquiry costs around £379,000 to run each month.

Here is the full spending breakdown:

  • Inquiry Secretariat staff costs: £682,100
  • Backfill costs for Court of Appeal: £82,000*
  • Counsel to the Inquiry: £536,100
  • Barristers providing assistance to Counsel to the Inquiry: £89,500
  • Assessors’ remuneration: £67,500
  • Accommodation costs (including hearing room, annex and office accommodation): £121,200
  • IT & telecommunications (website, broadcasting and audio-visual links): £214,700
  • Office Running Costs: £4,200
  • Seminars £73,400**
  • Public hearing costs (including records management and transcription costs): £111,200
  • Core Participant and witness costs: £10,700

Total: £1,992,600

* The Inquiry is meeting the costs of deputy judges brought in to cover the absence of Lord Justice Leveson from the Court of Appeal

** The cost of the seminars is lower than the figure previously published following receipt of final invoice

  • To contact the Press Gazette newsdesk call 020 7936 6433 or email pged@pressgazette.co.uk

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