FOI 32-24: Food supplied to Parliament Buildings
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 32-24
10 July 2024
Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 12 June 2024 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked:
“Please provide the following information, broken down on an annual basis for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
1. The total cost of food supplied to Parliament Buildings.
2. The amount in kgs and monetary value of unused food ( food waste) disposed of.
3. The cost of the disposal operation.
4. The amount spent on subsidising food provided in Parliament Buildings.
5. A copy of the written policy governing how unused food is dealt with.”
Our response
Please see the attached response at Appendix A below.
Further information
You have the right to request an internal review of this decision by the Assembly Commission. If you wish to request such a review, please write to me at the above address. If, after that review, you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Assembly Commission has handled your request for information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Your request for information and our response may be published in the disclosure log maintained by the Assembly Commission under a publication scheme agreed with the ICO. The request and our response will be anonymised.
Yours sincerely
Data Protection and Governance Office
Appendix A
2. The total cost of food supplied to Parliament Buildings.
Under the terms and conditions of the current Support Services contract that provides catering services for Parliament Buildings, the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission does not hold this information. This contract started in January 2023.
Under the terms and conditions of the previous contract that ended in December 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is able to provide the cost of sales provided by the previous contractor in 2021 and 2022.
It is important to note that the cost of sales provided includes the cost of all food, confectionary, beverages (both soft and alcoholic) as well as a range of retail items. It is not possible to extract the food element of the total annual cost.
|
|
2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost of sales |
£99,006.20 |
£213,948.45 |
- |
2. The amount in kgs and monetary value of unused food (food waste) disposed of.
The amount in kilograms and the monetary value of unused food (food waste) disposed of for the period requested is set out in the following table.
This figure represents the production waste and plate waste collected centrally and resulting from the provision of catering services in Parliament Buildings. It does not include waste collected from recycling bins in the various tea points within the building.
| Year | Contractor | Volume (Kgs) | Food Waste Cost | Annual sales | Food waste as a % of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 |
Sodexo |
2,297.75 |
£3,490.54 |
£236,207 |
1.47% |
| 2022 |
Sodexo |
3,634.00 |
£6,404.00 |
£489,518 |
1.31% |
| 2023 |
Aramark |
8,122.85 |
£16,245.70 |
£690,589 |
2.35% |
3. The cost of the disposal operation.
The Assembly Commission is not ‘hard charged’ for recycling, the cost is included within a management fee that is paid to Department of Finance which incorporates security, grounds maintenance and recycling.
4. The amount spent on subsidising food provided in Parliament Buildings.
The Assembly Commission requires that catering services for all building users including the public are provided during business hours and for events / functions. Where the cost of providing catering services exceeds the revenue generated through food and beverage sales, the Assembly Commission incurs the operating cost as per the contractual arrangements.
The table below provides the annual catering operating cost for the period requested.
|
|
2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catering operating cost |
£295,612.35 |
£310,968.98 |
£270,335.27 |
5. A copy of the written policy governing how unused food is dealt with.
The Assembly Commission does not have a separate policy for unused food as this is dealt with under the overarching Sustainable Development Policy and Environmental Policy and I have inserted links to them for your information.
The Assembly Commission uses RiverRidge Recycling to process food waste.
RiverRidge Recycling partners with McCulla Biogas to process food waste at its Anaerobic Digestion plant in Lisburn. Anaerobic Digestion is widely used as a source of renewable energy. The process produces a biogas which can be used directly as fuel in combined heat and power gas engines. It also produces a nutrient-rich digestate which can be used as fertilizer.
