To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost was to the public purse of the public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko; and what the average cost was to the public purse of inquiries into suspicious deaths undertaken by coroners over the last three years.
This answer is the replacement for a previous holding answer.
Answered on
27 January 2016
The public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko publishes costs on its website https://www.litvinenkoinquiry.org/costs. As of 31st December 2015, the inquiry had spent £2.25m. Final figures are still being calculated.
Coroners are a local service, funded independently of central government by local authorities. The total cost to the public of inquiries into suspicious deaths over the last three years is therefore not available.