Mineral Waters

David T.C. Davies
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on mineral water in each of the last three years.

Mr. Thomas
DFID has recently changed its restaurant service provider, and detailed records are not available. However, we estimate that DFID has spent in the region of £10,500 per annum over the last three years. Bottled water was provided for some official meetings in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money. Since January 2008, however, we no longer purchase bottled mineral water, but instead use bottled filtered mains water that is prepared on site. This change was made on the grounds of economy and environmental benefits.