Drinks spend (2022)
Request
The amount of money spent annually on alcohol in the Palace of Westminster over the last 10 years. I would be grateful if this could be split between users of the two houses.
Response
We have interpreted your request to relate to the sales of alcoholic drinks in our catering and event venues.
In the first instance, please note that our response only deals with catering and event venues for which the House of Commons is responsible. Some venues on the parliamentary estate 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). You may therefore wish to consider forwarding your request to the House of Lords.
Some information regarding money spent on alcohol is held by the House of Commons in relation to your request.
Please note the following in relation to this data:
• We hold information from 1 April 2017 to 31 December 2021. Sales information prior to this has been disposed of in line with our records retention policy, so is not held.
• Events may take place in a number of buildings on the parliamentary estate. The sales of alcoholic drinks in just the Palace of Westminster only cannot be disaggregated from the wider event sales figures.
• These figures include the sales of souvenir alcoholic drinks.
• These figures include VAT.
It may help you to know that, aside from periods where Covid-19 lockdown rules were in force, the parliamentary estate and its catering venues are open to around 15,000 passholders. This includes Members of Parliament, their staff, House staff, civil servants, contractors, Peers, members of the Press Gallery and others. Catering venues are also open to a large number of non-pass holding visitors to Parliament. Lastly, please note that the majority of alcohol sales are made in outlets that generate a profit, therefore reducing total catering costs.