Catering Services in the House of Commons

Written evidence submitted by Lisanne Robertson, Facilities Manager, The Scottish Parliament

Thank you for your letter dated the 15th September 2010. My colleague Jerry Headley

has forwarded it to me as I am the Facilities Manager responsible for the catering

services here at the Scottish Parliament.

In answer to your questions, we do have on-site catering facilities and they are

provided by a catering contractor.

The facilities we have are listed below for you:

Staff restaurant - provides hot and cold food items for breakfast and lunch (currently 7

days a week , although this is being reviewed)

on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday evenings during plenary a call

order service is available

Coffee bar - provides hot and cold beverages as well as homebaking, confectionary

and retail items (such as newspapers)

this outlet is open Monday to Friday only

Members' Restaurant & bar - provides a lunch and dinner service (during plenary) and

lunch only (during recess);

open Monday to Friday only and on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday during plenary Members have priority booking although all building users have access.

Public cafe - provides hot and cold food items and beverages within the public area of

the building

open Monday to Saturday

Hospitality and Events - we also provide hospitality and events catering available on a

booking system. Mainly provided Monday to Friday but also at weekends on request.

Like you, we are also reviewing our services. I have previously been in contact with

Sue Harrison, Director of Catering and Retail services, about this as well as my

counterparts at the Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly of Wales.

We have yet to make any decisions regarding the services and any changes.

I would be very interested to know how you are planning to consult with Members, their staff, and other service users as I am currently producing a survey focusing on our staff restaurant facility and the offer. Are you looking to use a survey or focus groups? Also, if this is something you have done previously, I would be interested to know how it went and if you got from it what you expected.

September 2010