A top-sliced answer

Question: Please provide an estimate of the officer-time, and therefore the cost to council taxpayers, of dealing with the Sticker tortoises over the past three years."

Answer:

We do not hold this data as we do not record time taken against tasks. The Council's Legal Services Team state that 12 hours and 54 minutes were spent between 13 July 2010 and the date of this request and their costs total £812.06. However, this cost is not directly invoiced to the Public Health and Protection Service; it is paid for via a top-slicing of service budgets in respect of legal advice and support throughout the year.