To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 511W, on the Government Hospitality Fund, how much the Government Hospitality unit of his Department's Protocol Directorate has spent on (a) linen, (b) china, (c) silver and (d) glassware in each of the last five years. (271727)

Government Hospitality (GH) recorded the following expenditure on items of linen, china, silver and glassware between 2004 and 2008:

Most of the equipment held by GH is several decades old, and was purchased at the time of Her Majesty the Queen's accession to the throne. GH purchases replacement stock, for example purchase of china in 2004 to replace 50-year-old dinner plates, produced by Wedgewood as a special commission. GH also buys new stock items when required for one-off occasions, for example the G8 summit in 2005 at Gleneagles.