The Covid inquiry has cost taxpayers £161 million as the government hires dozens more staff to respond to its requests.
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The government is employing 280 full-time staff to deal with requests, 31 more than at the start of the year as the scope of the inquiry continues to grow.
The latest costs for the inquiry itself are £108 million, putting it on track to become the most expensive inquiry in British history. The 12-year Saville inquiry into the deaths of 13 people on Bloody Sunday 1972 cost £195 million in total. The Covid inquiry is not expected to produce a final report for another two years.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman insisted the government was “committed to the Covid inquiry and getting the answers that the public would rightly expect from it” as ministers set out the latest estimates of their costs.
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