Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department’s offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

Mike Penning

The Ministry of Justice does not set a budget for food served in its offices. Catering services are provided by private companies under contract to the Ministry of Justice and provided to staff without subsidy. Spending on food is determined by the contractor based on sales receipts from Ministry of Justice staff.

The Ministry of Justice has worked with its current suppliers to align existing contracts with the requirements of the balanced scorecard.

Details of the proportion of food produced for the Ministry of Justice that was sourced from British producers is not recorded centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 35065 on 29 April 2016 which provides relevant details about food procured for prisons.