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Government Hospitality: Wines

Answer

​We do not hold details of the exact savings which might be made by substituting English and Welsh wines with comparable wines from elsewhere. This would be very much dependent on the alternative comparable wines available at the time, the types of functions we were looking to use them for and the volume in which we were looking to procure them – potential economies of scale etc. However, as detailed in the Wine Cellar Annual Report, we estimate that in 2017/18 English and Welsh wine made up 57% of all Wine Cellar wine consumed in 2017/2018. The average cost of each bottle of English/Welsh wine used was around £12.96. Whereas, the overall average price of each bottle used from other countries in the same period was £12.82. However, as already mentioned the cellar has been, and continues to be, a firm supporter of the UK wine industry in line with wider Government objectives to support British business and produce. Consequently, whilst English and Welsh wines might be more expensive than some alternatives from elsewhere, the differential is sufficiently small that we believe that this still represents good value for money in the proper expenditure of taxpayers' money.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL12513

Session

2017-19

Related items

Government Hospitality: Wines
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Cost effectiveness Procurement Wines Government Hospitality

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk