The Government is dumping bottled water from all Whitehall meetings in a major boost for the Evening Standard's Water on Tap campaign.

Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell has announced that only tap water will be served at Gordon Brown's Cabinet sessions and during official business. It means taxpayers' money will not be spent on the estimated 250,000 bottles of water currently bought for Whitehall departments each year.

The Standard is urging every restaurant in London to of fer free tap water to diners along with the usual menu options of still or fizzy bottled water. Alistair Darling has already said he will be sipping tap water when he delivers his first Budget speech in the Commons next week. And today Mr O'Donnell said he had written to the head of each government department urging them to adopt the "tap water only" policy by summer.

"The Government is committed to sustainable operations across its estate and I have made this issue one of my key priorities for the civil service," he said.

"Today's announcement is a small part of a much bigger programme of action in this area." Although the move is motivated by the Government's environmental concerns, a Cabinet Office spokesman added: "This is very much in the spirit of the Evening Standard campaign."

Several departments and agencies, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, have already made the switch to tap water at meetings.

Defra alone was being supplied by caterers with 12,600 bottles of water a year before it banned them. Officials and ministers will still be allowed to buy bottled water in Whitehall staff canteens if they choose.

The Standard's Water on Tap campaign has received the support of leading chefs, restaurant owners and Mayor Ken Livingstone

Tap water is kinder to the environment because it is responsible for about 300 times less carbon emissions than producing and transporting bottled liquid. It does not create waste packaging and does not have to be taken long distances by road, sea or air.

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