Thank you for contacting me about subsidies for food and drink in the House of Commons.
Catering venues in the House of Commons serve many thousands of parliamentary pass holders of which MPs make up a small proportion. Other pass holders, all of whom can use catering outlets, include clerical and administrative staff, police and security officers, post office workers, cleaners and maintenance staff, journalists and reporters, as well as secretaries and researchers working for MPs and Peers. Catering venues also serve thousands of visitors to Parliament every year.
Decisions relating to the budget for, and charges within, the House Catering Services are matters for the House of Commons Commission, not for the Government.
I have investigated what the House of Commons Commission has said about this matter, as it has been noted that there is widespread misunderstanding about the arrangements. The Commission has stressed that catering services for the House of Commons do not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word, meaning that food and drink is not provided at a discount to pass holders. What does happen though, is that in some venues in the House of Commons, the irregular hours and the unpredictability of parliamentary business mean that they are unable to make a profit. Venues that do make a profit contribute to costs elsewhere.
The Commission seeks to reduce costs wherever possible. Food and drink prices are regularly reviewed and set at levels benchmarked against similar outlets outside the House. Furthermore, costs have more than halved since 2011-12, with a significant £500,000 reduction in overall costs in 2018/2019. I would like to see these costs kept as low as possible, particularly at this time of increases in the cost of living.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.