Seasonal menus (2020)

Response

I require the amounts ordered for:
Rabbit
Turkey
Salmon
Steak
Haddock
This information is held by the House of Commons.
The amounts of each of the ingredients in your request that the House ordered for our 2020 seasonal menus (Table 1)

I also require the amount spent on each item
This information is held by the House of Commons.
However, we consider the cost prices we pay for each of these ingredients to be commercially sensitive information, and therefore exempt under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This is because disclosure of this information would be prejudicial to the House’s and our 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 to ensure that procurement 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 disclosed, it could be used alongside the publicly-available information about prices charged for each menu item to calculate the profit margin being maintained by the House. In turn, there is a strong risk that the House's bargaining position for the future will be prejudiced and our ability to achieve value for money would be undermined. The commercial interests of the third parties with whom we do business may also be prejudiced if details of specific prices or services 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.
However, to be helpful, we can disclose the total cost to the House of the ingredients above, information which alone is not sufficient to work out the cost price for each ingredient. The total cost of the ingredients in the table above was £2,077.92.

[I also require] the numbers sold
This information is held by the House of Commons.
The volume of sales of dishes including each of the ingredients in your request, as part of our 2020 seasonal menus (Table 2)
It also shows the total revenue generated from the dishes including each ingredient.

It may interest you to know that any ingredients that were ordered but could not be sold have been stored for use at another time, as long as it was safe to do so. Again, please note that over 15,000 people can access the parliamentary estate and use its services, of which only 650 are MPs. The on-site catering venues are also used by staff of the House of Commons Administration and contractors, such as facilities staff, security staff and building contractors, as well as Members’ staff, Peers and their staff and Members of the Press Gallery.