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20 Feb 2007 : Column 561Wcontinued
Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the policy of the Refreshment Department is on the disposal of food waste by composting. [120542]
Nick Harvey: Following a joint meeting between officials and the Houses waste management contractor in December 2006, it was concluded that an insufficient quantity of suitable waste is produced on the parliamentary estate for it to be economic or practicable to collect separately food waste for composting. Only a small amount of raw food waste suitable for composting is produced, as most fresh fruit and vegetables purchased by the Refreshment Department are pre-prepared off-site.
Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many paper copies of the (a) Official Report and (b) Order Paper are (i) produced, (ii) distributed to hon. Members and staff and (iii) unused on an average sitting day; and what the (A) total cost and (B) cost per copy was of producing the (1) Official Report and (2) Order Paper in each of the last three years. [120547]
Nick Harvey:
Typically, 1,549 copies of the daily part of the Official Report and 2,690 copies of the Order
Paper are produced overnight for issue in that form. This includes copies produced, on repayment to the printer by the distributor, for sale to customers, which include the House of Lords, Government Departments and the general public.
From these totals, the House of Commons receives 831 copies of the daily part of the Official Report and 2,405 copies of the Order Paper, the bulk into six Vote Office outlets; and the Parliamentary Bookshop for sale to its customers.
203 copies of the Official Report are distributed immediately to Members by the Vote Office early morning walks service and 70 copies by the printer directly, using Royal Mail postal or Data Post services. A further 42 copies are made available to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and departments of the House. The remaining copies are retained in the Vote Office for the whole of the current and subsequent session of Parliament, as required by the House, for issue on demand over that period to anyone entitled to receive a copy. Typically, at the end on any sitting day, fewer than 100 copies of the edition of a daily Hansard received that day remain to cover the total future stocking requirement. Other than for purposes of management of overall paper stocks within limited storage space, which is infrequent, copies are not disposed of during this time. Any shortfalls during the period are met by reprinting copies using in-house production facilities. At the end of the period any remaining copies are disposed of as waste for recycling.
269 copies of the Order Paper are distributed immediately to Members by the Vote Office early morning walks system and by post. 400 copies are made available to the Galleries for distribution to visitors. 373 copies are made available to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and Departments of the House. The remaining copies are retained in the Vote Office for issue on demand to anyone entitled to receive a copy. Other than a few record copies, copies of the Order Paper are not retained beyond the day of issue and any remaining are disposed of as waste for recycling. The surplus varies, but typically ranges between fewer than 100 copies and up to 200 copies. The print run is regularly reviewed to ensure any consistent surpluses are minimised.
The total costs of producing the Official Report and the Order Paper are not held in the form requested as the present printing contract pricing structure allows for payments in relation to printing consolidated classes of papers supplied complete. Internal staff, and other costs, are not associated with them or apportioned to individual documents. Historical data on the precise number of copies delivered during a particular period are not retained. The following figures have been derived from printing contract data and information given in previous answers. The total printing expenditure on the daily part of the Official Report for the last three financial years, to the nearest 1,000, the average number of pages per edition and an estimate of per copy price was as follows:
Amount (£) | Pages per edition | Per copy price (£) | |
The total printing expenditure on the Order Paper and an estimate of per copy price for the same periods was as follows:
Amount (£) | Per copy price (£) | |
(1) Derived by interpolating between 2003-04 and 2005-06 copy quantities. |
Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much was spent by the Refreshment Department on organic produce in each of the last five years; and what percentage of total food costs this represents. [120545]
Nick Harvey: The Refreshment Department does not keep a record that specifically identifies purchases of organic produce and so it is not possible to put a value on its expenditure on organic produce over the last five years.
Organic produce' is generally taken to refer to fresh produce (meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables, etc). In general, the Refreshment Department does not tend to specify organic in its fresh food purchasing requirements, having found in the past that suppliers have been unable to maintain consistency and availability in the quantities required. Consequently, organic food purchases are generally restricted to branded items such as sandwiches, salads, yoghurts, biscuits, cakes, etc, or arise from orders for specific events or special promotions. Purchasing specifications are reviewed as and when contracts are re-tendered and may be changed in the future as organic produce becomes more widely available.
Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many bottles of water for consumption (a) in restaurants and cafeterias and (b) elsewhere on the parliamentary estate were purchased in each of the last five years; and what the cost was in each year. [120544]
Nick Harvey: The information is as follows:
(a) It is not possible to answer this question in the precise terms asked by the hon. Member as water is purchased by the Refreshment Department for sale in all its outlets, not just for consumption in its restaurants and cafeterias. In total, the House of Commons Refreshment Department purchased bottled water in each of the last five years as follows:
Table (a): bottled water purchases(a) Refreshment Department outlets | |||||
Number | |||||
2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07( 1) | |
(1) 2006-07 figures: 10 months April 2006 to January 2007. (2) Including committee rooms. |
The figures for 2002-03 and 2003-04 in table (a) include water issued by the Refreshment Department to the Serjeant at Arms Department for use in the committee rooms, as no record of the quantities transferred is available for these two years. Figures for the last three years exclude water supplied to the Serjeant at Arms Department for use in the committee rooms, as this consumption is listed separately in table (b).
It should also be noted that the figures in table (a) include water sold to meetings and conferences held on the first floor of Portcullis House, which is supplied by the Refreshment Department. No separate figure is available for this consumption.
(b) In addition to water supplied to the committee rooms by the Serjeant at Arms' Department, a number of House of Commons Departments purchase bottled water for dispensers located in staff offices and communal areas. The number of bottles purchased for offices has been estimated on the basis of the annual expenditure cost, taking an average unit price to calculate the approximate number of bottles.
Table (b): bottled water purchases(b) other areas | |||||||||
2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07( 1) | |||||
Number of bottles | Number of bottles | Cost (£) | Number of bottles | Cost (£) | Number of bottles | Cost (£) | Number of bottles | Cost (£) | |
(1) 2006-07 figures 10: monthsApril 2006 to January 2007. (2) Included in table (a). (3) + committee rooms. |
The figures quoted exclude any purchases of bottled water made by the House of Lords for consumption on the parliamentary estate.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which (a) schools and (b) local authorities she has identified as having adopted best practice in engaging young people in social enterprises. [111799]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The Department does not routinely collect such data from schools. However, many projects undertaken by English secondary schools supported by the Enterprise Education Network (S'EEN) involve social enterprise.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to implement the gender equality duty due to come into force on 6 April 2007. [120642]
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that it and related bodies are in compliance with the gender equality duty in the Equality Act 2006 by the April 2007 deadline. [120979]
Meg Munn: The Department is preparing and publishing a Gender Equality Scheme which will set out how Communities and Local Government will fulfil the general and specific duties set out in the Equality Act 2006 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities)(Statutory Duties) Order 2006 (No. 2930). The scheme will set out the Departments gender equality objectives, and the actions it intends to take in the next three years to reduce gender inequality. The scheme will be published by 30 April 2007.
In preparing the scheme, my Department has consulted employees, stakeholders and trade unions, and has taken into account the views expressed by consultees.
In order to ensure that the actions set out in the scheme are put into practice, my Department has put in place measures to ensure regular review of the scheme and to drive progress in implementing the actions.
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