House of Commons - Administration

Select Committee on Administration Second Report

7 LOOKING OUTSIDE THE HOUSE

126. As mentioned previously in paragraph 15, the House of Lords has its own separate Refreshment Department that provides facilities for Peers and staff and a Refreshment Committee that monitors and manages the Department's services.

HOUSE OF LORDS FACILITIES

127. There has always been meal-time traffic between the two Houses, with the greater part of the traffic heading in the Commons direction. In the recent survey conducted by the Refreshment Department, although Members and staff of the House of Lords accounted for only five per cent of users in the Debate cafeteria, they were a substantial ten per cent of users in the Terrace cafeteria.[111] The House of Lords three-year kitchen refurbishment project ends in 2006. Lords staff who have been using the Commons facilities for the duration of the refurbishment are likely to revert to the new, larger restaurant facility in the Lords, together with those from 'the Commons end' who were regular users of the previous Lords cafeteria, which was significantly smaller than the Terrace cafeteria.[112] Therefore although the reopening of the Lords facility is unlikely to make a significant difference to demand for the Debate cafeteria, it will undoubtedly relieve some of the pressure on the Terrace cafeteria. We believe that it would be useful for the House of Lords to conduct a survey of users of their newly refurbished facility to help assess the traffic between the two Houses for future improvements to facilities. We recommend that the Refreshment Departments in the Lords and Commons formally share information on the usage of their catering facilities and their selling prices on a regular and recurrent basis.

128. We are also aware that the House of Lords is planning to include a large catering facility in the newly purchased Fielden House.[113] We consider that whilst such an outlet would be of limited appeal to those based north of Bridge Street, it could prove useful for alleviating pressure on the Terrace cafeteria. We await the development of plans for Fielden House with interest.

FORMAL CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO REFRESHMENT DEPARTMENTS

129. Maintaining a good working relationship with the House of Lords, particularly in the provision of shared services, is considered necessary by the House of Commons service in achieving its objectives.[114] The previous Commons Catering Committee recommended that there should be "regular formal contact between the senior officials in the Refreshment Departments of the two Houses, to co-ordinate provision across the Estate".[115] Since then, significant steps have been taken by both Departments to improve communication and co-ordination of procurement. The Refreshment Department told us that savings have been achieved in the tender of some key supply contracts through joint procurement with the House of Lords.[116] This was due to the increased purchasing power of the combined Departments and the shared staff resources for the tender processes. Current areas of joint procurement include general groceries, staff taxis, linen, disposables, recruitment, training, cleaning materials and dairy products. We understand that other areas of future joint procurement are under discussion between the two Houses' purchasing authorities.

130. The Refreshment Department also told us that the Heads of both Departments are in regular contact and that there was increasing co-operation with the Lords on information exchange and cross-training. We welcome the work done by the purchasing authorities and the Heads of both Departments in that area and the House of Lords Refreshment Committee echoes this.[117] We recommend that the purchasing authorities of both Houses continue to consider which areas would benefit from joint procurement in the future. We expect the House of Commons Refreshment Department to explore further joint working with its Lords counterpart.

Contracting out of services

131. As part of our inquiry we have considered whether the House of Commons should investigate contracting out its refreshment facilities - as has been done in a number of other Parliaments across Europe, the European Parliament facilities in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, many government departments, and in local government. Catering contractors experienced in working within organisations with security concerns already operate in Whitehall. We are advised that many large self-operated catering venues contract out one part of their operation as a benchmarking exercise. The Refreshment Department has told us that there is not a management mindset against contracting out parts of the catering service, but it has advocated caution in doing so.

132. We believe that the case for contracting out part of its operations needs further examination. The House Administration already makes extensive use of contractors to provide a range of specialist services. It would be crucial that any such exercise should not adversely affect the core services for Members located around the Chamber and that staff terms and conditions should be protected. We recommend that the Refreshment Department should identify reasons why parts or all of its operations should not be successfully contracted out in order to deliver a better quality of service and value for money, and bring suggestions to us by the end of October as to how this might be achieved on a pilot or permanent basis.

111 Ev 40, 41 Back

112 Ev 52 Back

113 Ibid. Back

114 House of Commons Corporate Business Plan 2006, p 5 Back

115 Catering Committee, Refreshment Facilities in the House of Commons, para 51 Back

116 Ev 22 Back

117 Ev 52 Back