Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what recent assessment the Commission has made of the effect of the 25p surcharge on hot drinks served in disposable cups on the Parliamentary estate on (a) drinks sales and (b) disposable cup waste.

In the nine months to September 2018, before the 25p surcharge, catering (non-banqueting) sales for hot beverages was £655,640 incl VAT. In the nine months to date, after the surcharge, hot beverage (non-banqueting) sales were £727,203 incl VAT.

There has been a reduction from 58,000 paper cups per month being sold to 15,000 on average. It is not possible to count the number of such paper cups which enter Parliamentary waste containers, but visual observation of the contents of segregated compostable waste shows that many of the compostable cups are disposed of within the Estate.