Letter dated 18 December from Sir Gus
O'Donnell to the Chairman of the Committee
PROPRIETY AND
HONOURS INQUIRY
When I appeared before the Committee on Thursday
13 November you asked me, with reference to the figures published
by the Police and the CPS, for the cost to Government of the Police
investigation into "cash for peerages".
In response, I confirmed that no estimate had
been made of the overall cost to Government as it would be impossible
to quantify the exact amount of time that officials had spent
dealing with the investigation, for example, by working to retrieve
information from the server. However, the Government does have
the figure for the cost to Government of external legal advice
provided to civil servants as part of the investigation. The cost
was £160,512.83.
A number of civil servants were interviewed
by the Police over the course of the 16 month investigation. Some
were interviewed more than once. It is right, as their employer,
that Government covered the costs of representing individuals
being investigated for actions undertaken in the course of official
business. Because of their special role, we sought a contribution
from the Labour Party for the expenses incurred in relation to
special advisers. The Labour Party covered the cost of supporting
its own staff.
As no charges were brought, it would not be
appropriate to release the names of individuals who received legal
representation.
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