Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual budget was for food and drink procured for his departmental offices in Whitehall in each of the last three years; and what proportion of all food procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of expenditure on food and drink solely for the Department’s building in Whitehall. The Department has spent the following on food and drink procured for Departmental offices in each of the last three financial years:

Financial year £

2013-14 193,591.20

2014-15 159,460.39

2015-16 118,364.32

These costs include the provision of refreshments for external meetings and visitors hosted in the Department’s buildings. Departmental policy is not to provide refreshments for internal meetings.

52% of all food procured for the Department was sourced from British producers for the last reporting period, January to March 2016.

This figure is skewed by the considerable spend on non-indigenous products purchased including large volumes of coffee as well as rice, pasta, tea, bananas, citrus, and exotic fruits. In terms of primary products we can confirm that:

― 100% of Beef is sourced from the United Kingdom

― 100% of Chicken is sourced from the UK

― 100% of Lamb is sourced from the UK

― 100% of Pork is sourced from the UK

― 100% of Free Range Eggs are sourced from the UK

― 100% of Milk is sourced from the UK

― 100% of Yoghurt is sourced from the UK