Legal fees

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could I please request answers to the following questions:

1)      What is the total amount of money spent on legal fees by your department between January 1 and December 31 2011?

2)      What was the largest amount spent on legal fees by your department to cover a single case in the same period?
3)      What were the details of this case?

4)      How many cases in total did your department spend legal fees on?

Thank you for your e-mail dated 29th December 2011.  I confirm Ordnance Survey does hold this information, and we respond to each of your questions in turn below.

1.  The total amount incurred on legal fees by Ordnance Survey between 1^st January and 31^st December 2011 was £239,110.61. 

2. The largest amount incurred on a single case was £98,614.81

3. This case referred to the obtaining of merger clearance from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in order to establish a joint venture between Ordnance Survey and Local Government, for the production of a single national address gazetteer for Great Britain. 

Full details of the OFT's decision, and detailed background of the case can be found at:   http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/mergers_ea02/2011/OS-LGID.pdf   

4. Legal fees were incurred on a total of 28 matters.

Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. As all the requested information has been provided, we have determined that in all the circumstances of this case the Public interest consideration (section 17 FOIA) is not applicable in this instance.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI11247/December 2011