Select Committee on Catering Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (United Kingdom Branch)

  Thank you very much for inviting the CPA UK Branch to comment on House of Commons catering arrangements.

  There are seven of us, not House servants but employed by the CPA UK Branch. Situated as we are in Westminster Hall, we sorely miss the Westminster Hall Cafeteria, which we used to frequent a good deal. We now generally lunch in the Terrace Cafeteria, with occasional expeditions to the Debate and Bellamy's. All of these are over-crowded between one and two o'clock, so most of us either buy food to take away before one, or sit down for lunch about two.

  While recognising that Members must always have priority, we think it a pity that half of the Terrace Cafeteria is reserved for Members most of the time, although it is rarely even nearly full.

  It has long been the custom that my two senior people and I have access to the Churchill Room, and we greatly appreciate this privilege. We also, so my predecessor told me, have access by long custom to the Members' Dining Room, although to avoid any possibility of criticism we rarely use it. I hope very much that my senior staff members and I may be granted access to the Adjournment for those occasions on which we need to entertain guests more modestly than in the Churchill Room, but still nicely. We are prepared to give up access to the Members' Dining Room in exchange.

Andrew Pearson
Secretary

18 March 2002


 
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