Catering subsidy (2018)

Response

Please note that our response only deals with catering venues and services for which the House of Commons is responsible. Some venues and services are the responsibility of the House of Lords, which is a separate public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), therefore you may wish to consider forwarding your request to them.

The House of Commons accepts that there is a great deal of public interest in the prices of food and drink sold from venues across the parliamentary estate and we are frequently asked about the ‘catering subsidy’. 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.

It is also important to make clear that the customers who use the on-site catering venues include approximately 14,500 pass-holders (such as House staff, civil servants, contractors, Peers, members of the Press Gallery, MPs’ and Peers’ staff, etc.) as well as some of the 650 elected Members of Parliament.  In addition, the House caters to a very large number of non-pass holding visitors to Parliament.

1. The subsidy for catering within the Houses of Parliament year by year for the past five years.
   Details of the costs of the catering service in the House of Commons is held by the House which is published annually on our website. As the information you request is reasonably accessible to you otherwise than under the FOIA, your request is refused. In refusing your request the House is applying the exemption set out in section 21 (1) and (2) (a) of the FOIA.  This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.
2. The subsidy for catering broken down to each bar, cafe, dining room (including the Lords’ dining room and the Members’ dining room) year by year for the past five years.
   Details for the costs and contributions of the various House of Commons catering venues (including the Members’ Dining Room) is held by the House.
   Venue breakdowns for the financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17. 
   Information from 2010/11 to 2014/15 can be found published on our website.  As the information you request is reasonably accessible to you otherwise than under the FOIA, your request is refused. In refusing your request the House is applying the exemption set out in section 21 (1) and (2) (a) of the FOIA.  This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.
   Please note that positive numbers represent the costs and negative numbers represent contribution (the profit that service or venue has contributed).
3. The cost of a two and three course meal for Peers and MPs in their dining rooms.
   Priced menus for House of Commons dining rooms are held by the House and already published on our website. As the information you request is reasonably accessible to you otherwise than under the FOIA, your request is refused. In refusing your request the House is applying the exemption set out in section 21 (1) and (2) (a) of the FOIA.  This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.
   Please note that Members of the House of Lords (Peers) are permitted to dine in some House of Commons catering venues.  The prices are the same for all customers to these venues and no discounts or premiums are applied.   Further information about the access arrangements of these venues is also available to view online.
   The House of Commons holds no information about the costs of meals available to MPs in Lords’ dining rooms.