Given that at the beginning of the coalition Government, Eric Pickles called on local government bodies to publish any expenditure over £500 “The public should be able to see where their money goes and what it delivers. The swift and simple changes we are calling for today will unleash an army of armchair auditors and quite rightly make those charged with doling out the pennies stop and think twice about whether they are getting value for money” it is deeply concerning that the Department for Transport is once again refusing to publish data on how much they have spent on Barrister fees over HS2. Given that as long ago as 2007 a junior barristers would charge around £300 an hour and £1200 a day and a more senior barrister about £1,000 an hour the fees covered in the HS2 work will run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds. We need DfT to change their attitude, become accountable and for Nusrat Ghani to come back to Cheryl Gillan and give her and society a credible answer to the question above which was asked on 13th March. After all, Barristers can list their clients and the bills they have charged with a great deal of ease!