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Written question asked by Justin Madders (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 January 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 January 2018. It was answered by Alan Duncan (Conservative) on Thursday, 1 February 2018 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Public Expenditure

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on (a) art, (b) wine and (c) hospitality in each of the last seven financial years for which figures are available.

Answer

a) The information regarding the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) expenditure on art is publicly available as part of the FCO's annual report on the gov.uk website. The FCO accounts for art as expenditure under Antiques and Works of Art representations of the FCO.

b) No central record is held of global expenditure on wines and spirits in the UK and overseas FCO. The Government Wine Cellar is managed by the FCO's Protocol Department and has been self-financing since 2011: costs are covered by sales of older, higher value stock. An annual report on the Government Wine Cellar is presented to Parliament each year under cover of a Written Ministerial Statement and is available on the gov.uk website.

c) The FCO accounts for its hospitality expenditure under Representation of the FCO and Business Hospitality. The total cost is

2010-11

£7,840,245

2011-12

£8,206,034

2012-13

£9,096,057

2013-14

£9,010,820

2014-15

£8,177,552

2015-16

£7,984,424

2016-17

£9,386,848

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
124701
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Artworks Wines Foreign and Commonwealth Office Official hospitality
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk