NIO has no record of legal bills

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6959148.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Poor record keeping means the Northern Ireland Office does not know how much it has spent on fighting legal challenges over the past five years.

It says accurate figures have not been kept but it is now taking action to rectify the situation.

The admission followed a freedom of information request made last January by BBC Good Morning Ulster.

Now, after a nine-month investigation, the NIO has acknowledged administrative errors.

However, it revealed that the records which do exist show that the office was involved in at least 43 judicial review cases from November 2002 to November 2006, at a cost of up to £1.5m.

But they say these figures are only estimates because of the "gap in record keeping".

This "missing period" includes all of 2002 - the NIO says no figures are available for this period.

The £1.5m legal bill does not include representation for the secretary of state to defend the appointment of former Victims Commissioner Bertha McDougall.

Nor does it include defending the NIO policy on water charges in an action brought by the Consumer Council.

The office says these figures are held by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and the Department of Regional Development respectively.