NHS IT scheme spent £40m on legal fees

Money was used for drafting contracts and "legal support", says minister

The money was spent on drafting contracts

Legal firms have been paid almost £40m for work relating to the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

In response to a parliamentary question, Mike O'Brien, minister for the £12.7bn NPfIT, said that between April 2002 and March 2009, the total fees paid to Allen & Overy amounted to £10,309,877 while the fees to DLA Piper UK LLP totalled £28,864,938. Allen & Overy ceased to advise after 2006.

"As part of the total sum for legal and commercial support relating to the National Programme for IT, cash paid to these legal firms include, among other things, fees for the drafting of contracts," said O'Brien.

Asked what other services the legal fees had paid for, a spokesman for NHS Connecting for Health pointed to a previous answer by O'Brien to a parliamentary question in December.

"Allen & Overy, and DLA (subsequently DLA Piper), were appointed in December 2002 to participate in the drafting and negotiation of the contracts which formed the National Programme for IT, and were entered into between October 2003 and January 2004," O'Brien said.

These were the five original local service provider contracts, together with the Spine, N3 network, and Choose and Book contracts.

"Since that time the Department has continued to receive legal support from DLA Piper in connection with the work of the programme," O'Brien added.