Catering sales (2022)

Response

1) [For each of the restaurants, cafes and bars in the House of Commons, please specify] the total income they received through sales per year, for each of the last three years.

This information is held by the House of Commons.

The total sales income for each catering venue for each of the last three whole financial years.

2) [For each of the restaurants, cafes and bars in the House of Commons, please specify] the total amount they have received in subsidies, for each of the last three years.

In the first instance, please note that the House accepts that there is a great deal of public interest in sales from our food and drink venues, and we are frequently asked about ‘catering subsidies’. However, catering services for the House of Commons are provided by an in-house team who do not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, referred to as contribution because it contributes to reducing overall costs. In other venues, the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. The contribution or cost of each venue is calculated by subtracting the food and operational costs from the catering sales. Rather than a subsidy, the House monitors the contribution or cost of each catering venue, which include cafeterias, dining rooms, restaurants and bars. Prices of food and drink are regularly benchmarked against appropriate external comparators.

On this understanding, information relating to the cost or contribution of each of these catering venues for each of the last three whole financial years is held by the House of Commons.

Please note the following additional information about the sales and cost/contributions figures provided:

• While the customers who use the on-site catering venues include some of the 650 elected Members of Parliament, they also include around 14,500 other pass-holders (MPs’ staff, House staff, civil servants, contractors, Peers, members of the Press Gallery, etc.) as well as a large number of non-pass holding visitors to Parliament.

• In the attached spreadsheet, please note that a negative value denotes where a venue makes a contribution and a positive value denotes where the figure is a cost. (If a venue has a net cost which is negative, this means the outlet was a contributing site where its revenue exceeded the cost of operating, therefore reducing the overall cost of catering.)

• Sales figures for the 2019/20 financial year were lower than per usual as a result of both prorogation and the 2019 General Election. This is because it is not usual for our catering outlets to be open when the House is in recess, or during Dissolution.

• Likewise, sales and cost/contribution figures for the 2020/21 financial year are also an exception, and you will see that they do not reflect the usual income or costs for the House of Commons’ catering outlets. Costs are higher than previous years, and income lower, as a result of either a reduced service or the temporary closure of venues, both as a result of COVID-19 related lockdowns. Of the 18 venues which were normally open and generating income, only two remained open for the full year. Restrictions on access and distancing rules meant sites that would normally reduce the cost of catering, such as banqueting and bars, were closed entirely or for the majority of the year. This was necessary as the House of Commons had a duty to follow government rules regarding national restrictions, and to maintain a COVID secure environment.