To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of office supplies purchased by his Department were recycled products in the latest period for which figures are available. (275344)

Data on Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spend on products from recycled materials are not held centrally, and establishing the global proportion of the FCO’s office supplies being made from recycled materials could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. A trawl of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO’s) principal suppliers of office supplies in the UK, has identified that:

The FCO’s A4 paper supplies are made from 100 per cent. recycled materials, and a number of more specialised paper products are made from 75 per cent. recycled materials;

80 per cent. of the FCO’s bespoke print paper products from its in-house print facility are made from 100 per cent. recycled materials;

The FCO’s contracted stationery supplier provides a range of products meeting certain environmental criteria, including but not exclusively, being made from recycled materials. Since 1 May 2008, 18.47 per cent. of the FCO’s spend with this supplier has been on products which meet their criteria as being environmentally sound;

Chairs purchased by the FCO contain 50 per cent. recycled materials.