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End subsidised food and alcohol in the House of Commons and House of Lords

Submitted on Friday 23rd October 2020

Rejected on Monday 9th November 2020

Current status: Rejected

Rejection code: duplicate (see below for details)

Petition Action

End subsidised food and alcohol in the House of Commons and House of Lords

Petition Details

Subsidised food and alcohol must end in the House of Commons and House of Lords. MP's should be put on to terms that mirror those of the civil service - including a £5 allowance for daily subsistence and a maximum of £15 for dinner. Savings made by implementing this policy could be spent elsewhere.

Additional Information

It is only fair that elected representatives are put on to terms that mirror those of civil and public servants. Modernising the T&E policy for MP's will be a positive first step in restoring public trust in the fairness of government and is in the best interests of society as a whole.


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This petition was rejected

The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:

There's already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

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

Increase food and drink prices in House of Commons catering venues: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555947

The House of Commons Catering service does not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, while in other venues the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. 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.

The UK Government and Parliament aren't responsible for setting MPs' pay or expenses. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is responsible for deciding on MPs' expenses and pay. IPSA is independent of both Parliament and Government.

You can find out more about IPSA here: www.theipsa.org.uk/about-us/

MPs may claim for the cost of purchasing food and non-alcoholic drinks where they have stayed overnight outside the London Area and their constituency. This is limited to £25 for each night they have stayed, but the claims can be for purchases made during the day.

Catering and expenses in the House of Lords is a matter for that House, not the Government or House of Commons.

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