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Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 11 March 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 March 2008. It was answered by Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 31 March 2008 on behalf of the House of Commons Commission.

Mineral Waters

Question
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what proportion of glass from bottles containing drinking water on sale in parliamentary canteens or provided by House departments for hon. Members' use was (a) recycled and (b) sent for disposal in landfill sites in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the estimated cost was to departments of the House of providing bottles of water in each year since 1997.
Answer

All glass from bottles containing drinking water on sale in parliamentary canteens or provided by House departments for hon. Members' use is recycled.The cost of bottled water provided by the House of Commons in each of the last five financial years is estimated in the table. Costs are not available prior to 2002. Catering and Retail Services sells water to its customers at a profit, and so the cost of water purchased for sale in the catering outlets (item (a) in the following table) is not a cost to the House.

Cost of bottled water purchases 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
(a) Catering and Retail Services ¹58,832 ¹55,895 47,820 53,188 49,271
(b) Committee Rooms n/a n/a 8,357 6,656 8,340
(c) Office supplies¹ n/a 5,165 7,449 6,095 6,988
Estimated total cost of purchases 58,832 61,060 63,626 65,939 64,599
¹ incl. committee rooms
² estimated

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
194558; 474 c456-8W
Session
2007-08
Subjects
House of Commons Drinking water
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk