Government legal spending through its centralised L-Cat ‘super-panel’ rose sharply in 2004-05 to reach £6.3m, it has emerged, despite falling below previous growth predictions.

Figures provided to Legal Week by the Office for Government Commerce (OGC) show the 32-firm panel spent fees of £6.3m in its second full year of operation, including handing out a single contract of £1.1m, the largest instruction for a panel firm during the period.