Plastic (2018)

Response

In the first instance, please note that the House of Commons has no contractors that spend money on the types of plastic items named.  Catering services are provided by an in-house team.

1. How much money was spent by the House of Commons and its contractors on each of the following items: plastic bottles of water, condiment sachets, plastic cups, plastic carrier bags, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic food containers. I would like this information for the year 2018, broken down by month.
   And
2. How many of each of the following items were bought by the House of Commons and its contractors: plastic bottles of water, condiment sachets, plastic cups, plastic carrier bags, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic food containers. I would like this information for the year 2018, broken down by month.
   Information relating to the purchase of plastic disposable items for food, as described above and provided in our catering venues, is held by the House of Commons.
   However, please be aware that the specially negotiated cost prices that we pay for these items is commercially sensitive information.  If we provided both the numbers purchased and the amount spent, it would be possible to work out these prices.  Therefore, we have considered the public interest in disclosure of the information we hold, and have concluded that it is important to be transparent about the numbers of plastic items used in the House, owing to the obvious public concerns relating to harm to the environment.  Consequently, we have provided you with the numbers of these items.
   Number of plastic items used
   Please note that, on the 1 October 2018, the House of Commons introduced a new range of compostable products to replace the previous single-use plastic items; these plant-based products include certified compostable single-use cutlery, coffee cups and lids, soup containers, takeaway food containers, salad boxes, and drinking straws. Some of the items purchased from September onwards include these plastic compostable items, and the bulk-purchase of the new food containers in October resulted in a temporary spike in the data.
   These compostable products are just one of several measures announced earlier this year with the ambitious aim of eliminating single-use avoidable plastics from both Houses by the end of 2019. The first phase of the plan saw the introduction of re-usable coffee cups in June this year, with thousands of cups already sold to MPs, Peers, visitors, and staff working in Parliament. Parliament also stopped purchasing plastic bottled water from the 1st October, immediately removing 120,000 plastic bottles from circulation annually and plastic condiment sachets were also removed at the same time and replaced with refillable dispenser systems around the Estate.
   As previously mentioned, the purchase costs of these items have been withheld.  This information is exempt under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) because the disclosure of this information would be prejudicial to the House and its suppliers’ commercial interests.  This is a qualified or non-absolute exemption and the public interest test applies.
   We have considered the public interest the disclosure of this information. These factors include the importance of transparency in the decision making process relating to the spending of public money, and also to ensure that the House of Common’s purchasing processes are conducted in an open and honest way. It is also important for the public to see taxpayers’ money being used effectively and public authorities getting value for money.
   We have also considered the public interest in withholding this information.  If released, it would be possible to work out the unit prices negotiated with our suppliers, and the disclosure of that information presents a strong risk that the House's bargaining position for the future will be prejudiced because commercial organisations may become reluctant to enter into further free and frank negotiations.  This would undermine the House’s ability to fulfil its role effectively and prevent it from achieving the value for money that is so important. The commercial interests of the third parties with whom we do business may also be prejudiced if details of specific prices to one of their customers are disclosed to the public and their competitors. For these reasons we consider that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
   Lastly, and other than the products supplied in our catering venues, plastic water cups may also be purchased by various teams of the House to supply meeting rooms and water fountains across the parliamentary estate. However, there is no central team responsible for purchasing these water cups so to gather the information you require we would have to first locate the relevant teams or individuals responsible for this task for the various rooms and venues.  As there are over 2,000 staff of the House of Commons, and a large number of water fountains and meeting rooms this is likely to exceed the limit of time/cost for which we are obliged to comply with a request, which for the House of Commons is £600.
   Section 12 of the FOIA relieves public authorities of the duty to comply with a request for information if the cost of dealing with it would exceed this limit.  This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in locating, retrieving and extracting the information.  If you were to make a new request for a narrower category of information, it may be that we could comply with that request within the appropriate limit, although I cannot guarantee that this will be the case. For example, you may wish to enquire about water cups purchased by a specific House team.
3. How many reusable drinks cups were sold by the House of Commons and its contractors. I would like this information for the year 2018.
   This information is held by the House of Commons. A total of 1,656 reusable cups were sold by the House of Commons between January and November 2018.