Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution
(asked on 23rd January 2023) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, what the (a) purpose of, (b) location of and (c) guest list was for the events for which Ann Kristin Catering was paid (i) 1,347.25 on 27 September 2021 and (ii) £1,154.69 on 3 December 2021.
Answered by
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This relates to two events used to promote relations with Portugal and Portuguese business stakeholders operating in the UK. These included:
(i) UK-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Group Lunch with Minister Wendy Morton MP and a British Embassy Lisbon led event on 27th September 2021
(ii) a Lord Mayor's Lunch with Portuguese business community.
All expenses undergo rigorous oversight to ensure they are reasonable and adhere to FCDO spending regulations. We are not releasing the guest lists for these events given these contain personal data of third parties and release would therefore be contrary to our obligations under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.