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End the catering subsidy for members of parliment.

Submitted on Friday 23rd October 2020

Rejected on Friday 30th October 2020

Current status: Rejected

Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)

Petition Action

End the catering subsidy for members of parliment.

Petition Details

Take the saving from the catering subsidy and use those funds to reinstate the meals vouchers for children and work towards stopping children in a developed country going hungry.

Additional Information

It now costs the British tax payer more than £6 million pounds per annum to supply public servants with subsidised food and alcohol. Given that an MP has a salary of £81,932 (before expenses) it's not unreasonable to expect that they pay for subsistence in the same way the majority of other workers do. The average wage in the UK is £30,000 according to 2019 figures. MPs can manage just fine without this benefit.


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This petition was rejected

The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:

Catering services for the House of Commons are provided by an in-house team who do not provide a subsidised service, though the cost of running the service means that it runs at a loss. It is important to note that while in some venues the cost of providing the service exceeds the income received in sales, other venues in the Commons make a profit which contributes to reducing overall costs. The House of Commons publishes details of the cost of House of Commons catering services: www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/transparency-publications/hoc-transparency-publications/catering-services/transparency-reporting-catering-services/

Customers of the House of Commons Catering Services include some of the 650 MPs but also around 14,500 other pass-holders, many of whom are staff on lower wages that work irregular hours. In addition, members of the public and non pass holding visitors to Parliament also have access to these services. The irregular hours and the unpredictability of Parliamentary business contribute to increasing the net cost of providing a catering service. To offset this many of the restaurants, dining room facilities and their staff, are used to cater for private events at times when they are not required by the House. This is one of a number of measures used to reduce
costs.

We have published the following petitions, which you might like to sign:

Increase food and drink prices for MPs in House of Commons catering venues: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555565

Fund free school meals over school holidays until April 2021: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555727

Provide the free school meal entitlement throughout the year: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555723

End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/554276

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