The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) spent £1.2m on legal advice from the Government Legal Department (GLD) in the first quarter of the 2018-19 financial year.

The figure was published yesterday (28 June) as part of the government department's transparency data report, which includes any spending over £25,000.

DExEU paid GLD, the government's principal legal advisers, £1,191,250 during the period from April to June 2018. The payment was made on 4 May.

A spokesperson for DExEU said: "We are working to unpick more than 40 years of legal harmonisation with the European Union. To do this effectively, we are making full use of the government's internal legal services. This is considerably more efficient and cheaper than going to the open market."

GLD is a non-ministerial department, meaning it is led by senior civil servants and does not operate under direct political oversight.

The report also shows DExEU spent £85,724 on "travel and subsistence" services from Clarity Travel Management during the quarter, as well as £95,704 on estates and facilities expenses.

Last year, Legal Week reported that DExEU spent £3.7m on legal costs during the last financial year, including more than £1.2m on Brexit-related litigation. Legal costs represented DExEU's second most significant area of spending, behind staff costs of £14m for the year ending 31 March 2017.

Litigation costs represented almost a third of the department's total legal spend during the year, with the bulk of the £1.2m in litigation costs relating to the high-profile Article 50 legal challenge led by investment manager Gina Miller. The remainder of the litigation costs (£78,000) related to Article 127 litigation, which concerns Britain's membership of the European Economic Area.

The two legal challenges cost the department £345,000 in legal fees, £383,000 in counsel fees and disbursements, and £493,000 in court-ordered third-party litigation costs.