Government departments are set to spend as much as £35.5 million on top lawyers to defend them during the Covid-19 public inquiry.
It's more than three times as much as the inquiry itself is set to spend on legal services to help uncover the truth about the UK's response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The public inquiry entered its second phase last week, which will consider the impact of “political and administrative” decision-making.
As well as demanding evidence from most government departments, lawyers for the probe said they had asked for “records of written and oral advice to ministers and details of internal communications including a WhatsApp group, which included the Prime Minister, Number 10 and other senior officials.”
The Cabinet Office - which includes the Prime Minister's Office - is the biggest spender, with a £7 million contract in place with law firm Pinsent Masons.
The Business department has two contracts, one for £6 million with TLT, and a second for £600,000 with the same firm to cover the Government Office for Science, which includes the SAGE scientific advisory body.
The Department for Education is set to spend £5 million with DWF, with the Environment department budgeting £4.5 million with DAC Beachcroft.
Two contracts are in place with separate law firms for the Department of Health and Social Care, with a combined value of £3,831,000.
And the Foreign Office has a contract valued at £3.8 million with DLA Piper.
Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: “These stats are alarming, and show just what a huge challenge Baroness Hallet and her team have if they want to get to the truth about what happened during the pandemic and learn the lessons that will save lives in the future.
“Those that suffered during the pandemic are never going to have the same resources as those in power. This is why it’s so critical that Baroness Hallet levels the playing field in the inquiry by ensuring that bereaved families are listened to directly and uses our stories to inform which evidence is looked for and how it’s considered.”
The Department of Transport has a £1m contract with Sharpe Pritchard, and the Ministry of Justice has a £250,000 agreement with Addleshaws Goddard.
The government has its own lawyers - the Government Legal Department (GLD) - but has brought in millions of pounds worth of additional legal support to work with them during the inquiry.
The inquiry itself published its own legal contract with Burges Salmon in May, valued at a total of £9.8 million over the course of the probe.
A spokesperson for the Government Legal Department said: “The Covid-19 Inquiry is unprecedented in the breadth of its remit and the government is committed to supporting it.
"To do that, legal support is being provided to individual departments from approved internal and external sources.
"All appointments represent value for money and ensure that the Inquiry can fulfil its remit.”
