Morning:
20°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
MPs drink 250,000 bottles of water every year
Last updated at 10:37am on 09.01.07
The Commons: thirsty work
MPs and their staff drink 250,000 bottles of water every year.
The news has prompted an outcry from environmentalists who have urged Westminster officials to stop offering bottled water.
• Sign up to news alerts from the Daily Mail here • Beer is cheaper than water
They say it should be replaced with water coolers in the corridors filled from the mains and jugs of tap water at meetings.
The figures, released by the House of Commons Refreshment Department, show that more than 208,000 bottles of Commons own-brand water, produced by Hildon, are bought every year in the canteens, restaurants and bars of Parliament at a cost of £137,000 to MPs and their staff.
They pay £1 for a litre glass bottle and 50p for a 500ml plastic bottle.
The Commons, along with the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Department of Health and
Department for Education, serves bottles of water at meetings with many thrown away half-full.
An extra 31,200 small plastic bottles of still water are provided free to catering staff by the Commons authorities.
Food pressure group Sustain named MPs as some of the biggest users in a list of government departments.
The best performer is the Food Standards Agency, which has changed its policy in favour of using filtered tap water. Agency officials said they believe the bottling and transport of water is a huge waste of energy, money and resources.
The Environment Agency's water coolers are fed by the mains while the Department for the Environment serves tap water at meetings.
A Sustain spokesman said: "Whichever way you slice it, it's a lot of water, a lot of money and a lot of waste. These are elected representatives and we want them to set a better example."
Labour MP Frank Doran, chairman of the Commons Administration Committee, agreed to hold an inquiry into drinking water arrangements in Parliament.
"The committee has looked at this in the past and there are practical problems, one of which is the cost of providing water fountains or water dispensers and another is the staff time issue if somebody has got to constantly replenish them," he said. "But it's a concern and the committee is certainly prepared to look at this again."
More than four billion pints of bottled water were bought in Britain in 2005. Only 17 per cent of bottles are recycled.
• The Consumer Council for Water has urged diners to insist on free tap water in restaurants, claiming it is "hundreds of times" cheaper than bottled water and creates less waste.
Chairwoman Dame Yve Buckland said: "The last thing you want when you are out at a restaurant is to have your request for tap water snubbed, or be required to pay for it."
Reader views (6)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
As the manager of a charity which bottles water and employs people with a disabilty can I have some of Hildon's business please?
- Paul Smith, Newport, I.O.Wight
Are we being told in this article that our MPs do not have access to wholesome mains drinking water? I was under the impression that health and safty legislation required all work place to supply fresh drinking water for its staff.
Many schools have now installed water coolers to aid concentration and health of pupils and staff,should not our MPs have the same advantage?
With MPs working long hours into the night, and making such important decisions each day, surely they can benefit from fresh drinking water to keep them healthy.
Any member of the EPDWA would be happy to survey the building to see if water coolers or fountains can be installed to the existing mains drinking water which, we are told by our MPs and Water UK, is one of the best public drinking water supplies in the world.
- Dave Stewart, UK
Where else can you go to work, drink and booze, doze off in meetings, chase your secretary around, make incompetant decisions affecting millions, then get driven home by a chaffuer, what a great job!
- Brian, Swindon
Surely it is only the 32,000 small bottles that are in question. The remainder are bought by the MPs and staff from their personal money. This is no different from them popping out to Boots, Tescos, Sainsburys, et al to buy their water - except that it would be cheaper in each of these shops.
Assuming that the House of Commons is as old as many Civil Service buildings the water pipes are probably made from lead and this prevents them from producing drinking water as lead poisoning would be outcome. No doubt there would be a massive outcry if papers declared "millions of pounds to be spent replacing water pipes in House of Commons!"
- Graham, Reading, England
Have they no taps and paper cups at Westminster?
- Ted, Shetland
How about getting rid of the plethora of subsidised bars too? And ensuring the forthcoming smoking ban they voted in applies in the House of Common ? I went past Parliament last friday and there were dozens of coppers milling round outside and the MPs were on their Christmas holidays - and probably still are.
- Squiz, Islington
