The Cabinet Office does not hold a central estimate of the total public sector procurement budget for stationery or office solutions.

Public sector organisations may procure office supplies through the Government Commercial Agency RM6299 Office Solutions agreement, which covers products including stationery and paper. As with other Government Commercial Agency commercial agreements, use of the framework is a compliant route to market, but individual contracting authorities are responsible for determining their own requirements and spend.

Other Professional Buying Organisations (PBOs) have published their own frameworks covering stationery and office solutions and which are accessible to the public sector.

The stationery rules, and rules on the use of the Crowned Portcullis, govern the use Members make of stationery bearing the Crowned Portcullis. They are published on Parlinet and were last updated in November 2023. The default colour for the Crowned Portcullis is green, and that is the only colour permitted on House supplied stationery. It may be used in a party colour on small communications and on those webpages where its use is permitted.

Official headed stationery is sourced from the following locations:

• for letterheaded paper, the Papago cream paper is sourced from France and the Conqueror cream wove paper is sourced from Italy.
• paper for manilla envelopes is sourced and manufactured in Germany.
• plastic for the poly mailers is sourced and manufactured in Poland.
• cream paper for the standard envelopes is sourced from Sweden.
• white paper for the white envelopes is sourced and manufactured in Poland.

All overprinting of paper envelopes is carried out in the UK, including embossing and phosphor band print. Overprinting of letterheaded paper is carried out in the UK.

Business papers (the Order Paper, bills etc) are printed on paper which has been manufactured in Germany and France. These are bought through a UK-based paper merchant.

Under current legislation and guidance, specifying the origin of goods or services is only permitted if it is necessary to do so in order for our requirements to be understood. The legislation expressly provides that any requirement specifying the origin must allow for equivalents where these exist. Parliament endeavours to purchase British goods and support domestic supply chains where it is possible and appropriate to do so.

Under current legislation and guidance, specifying the origin of goods or services is only permitted if it is necessary to do so in order for the requirements to be understood. The legislation expressly provides that any requirement specifying the origin must allow for equivalents where these exist. In respect of Members and their Staff it is a decision for each individual Member and their office to determine how they use their budget to purchase office products and stationery in accordance with IPSA guidelines.

There was no expenditure on signage, furniture, artwork or stationary for former Deputy Prime Minister’s office in 70 Whitehall.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses and the products they produce, ensuring they have the best opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

Cabinet Office are consulting on a package of further reforms to public procurement to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Government maintains robust standards across a range of categories of spend, these are set out by the Government Buying Standards, including for Paper & paper products. Furthermore, Government has also implemented a Timber Procurement Policy to ensure that only timber and wood-derived products (including paper) originating from an independently verifiable Legal and Sustainable source will be used on the government estate.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses and the products they produce, ensuring they have the best opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

The Cabinet Office are consulting on a package of further reforms to public procurement to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Government maintains robust standards across a range of categories of spend, these are set out by the Government Buying Standards (GBS). e.g. Furniture, Office ICT, and Paper & paper products

Office stationery products are primarily purchased through HO catalogue contract with Banner, a UK based stockist and distributor. The contract focuses on security of supply, catalogue/stock management and reducing the environmental impact of the goods and services whilst maintaining the best value for money. Other ancillary stationary products are purchased through Unite, category specific contracts or sourced low level below threshold purchases.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses and the products they produce, ensuring they have the best opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

Cabinet Office is consulting on a package of further reforms to public procurement to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Government maintains robust standards across a range of categories of spend, these are set out by the Government Buying Standards, including for paper & paper products. Furthermore, the Government has also implemented a Timber Procurement Policy to ensure that only timber and wood-derived products (including paper) originating from an independently verifiable Legal and Sustainable source will be used on the Government estate.

Contracts for office products and materials are awarded in compliance with the relevant public procurement regulations to ensure value for money, utilising Crown Commercial Service framework agreements.

Details of government contracts above £12,000 (inc. VAT) are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder) and, if procured under the Procurement Act 2023, on the Central Digital Platform (Find a Tender service). This includes a note of winning suppliers. (https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search(opens in a new tab)).

The Department for Business and Trade and its arms-length bodies do not have any policies to specifically encourage procurement of British made office products and stationery. However, the Government is committed to supporting British businesses, ensuring they have opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

Cabinet Office is consulting on a package of further reforms to public procurement regulation to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

MHCLG has spent £149 on stationery since 5 July 2025.

The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail's commercial decisions, including the prices of stamps and other services.  In setting its prices, Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom which imposes price controls, 'safeguard caps', on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices.

Ofcom reviewed the safeguard caps in 2023, including the impact of price rises on consumers and small and medium sized enterprises, and on 24 January 2024 announced its decision on the retail price caps that would apply to Royal Mail's universal postal services from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027.

As has been the case under successive Administrations, the Prime Minister is assisted by special advisers in preparation for the Parliamentary exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions with the Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition.

All activity is undertaken in line with the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct. Such exchanges are available to the hon. Member in the Official Report.

More broadly, such work is led by staff of the governing party (as evident by the answer of 6 June 2023, Official Report, PQ 186524; deposited paper DEP2023-0475).

The House Service manages a contract with Banner for the provision of both general and bespoke stationery for Members and staff of both Houses. It monitors Banner’s service through regular performance meetings and by reviewing performance metrics provided by Banner. The contract includes a dedicated account manager and a customer care hotline.

Members can purchase stationery from other providers. The contract with Banner enables them to charge any purchases from Banner to their IPSA funded account.

The contract with Banner was procured from the Cabinet Office’s agency, Crown Commercial Service (CCS), during 2021 and will be due for re-tendering during 2024.

In my capacity as a Commissioner, I shall make representations to the House Administration asking that it looks at Banner’s service delivery, when the House returns from the Christmas recess.

The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has provided £94 billion to support households with higher costs across 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Additional cost of living payments of up to £900 will be made in 2023/24 to households on means tested benefits.

The government is investing up to £30 million in the National School Breakfast Programme until the end of the summer term in 2024. This funding will support up to 2,700 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.

Rather than subsiding expensive uniform policies with financial assistance, the department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform to ensure uniform is affordable for all families. The guidance came into force in September 2022 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.

Schools must be mindful of this guidance when designing and implementing their uniform policy. The guidance requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents.

There is no specific funding for schools to support families to meet the costs of school uniform, but schools may offer additional support in cases of financial hardship where they choose to do so.

No specific support is provided for the purchase of stationery.

The Department's expenditure on office supplies was £9,389,274 from 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023. The Department has spent £1,023,028 on office supplies since 1 April 2023.