Written question asked by David Crausby (Labour) on Wednesday, 3 September 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 September 2008. It was answered by Derek Twigg (Labour) on Monday, 29 September 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Food

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the pay as you dine scheme.

Answer: [holding answer 10 September 2008]: Pay as You Dine was introduced in response to a strong belief, particularly amongst Junior Ranks, that the previous system, which raised monthly food charges irrespective of how many meals were taken, should be replaced with a more flexible scheme that offered longer opening hours and only charged for meals or other services consumed. Pay as You Dine is still being rolled out across all three Services and where it has been introduced, the single Services are monitoring the delivery of the scheme with the contractor. While feedback from Service personnel has been gathered through the various Continuous Attitude Surveys, implementation across the Services is ongoing and it is too early to make an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Pay as You Dine scheme.

Secondary information