Departmental Food

Mr. Paice
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the quantity of food waste generated by her Department in each year for which figures are available.

Jonathan Shaw
The quantity of food waste generated by the Department in each year for which figures are available is:

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|Financial year|Food waste (kgs)|
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|2008-09       |39,755          |
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|2009-10       |51,489          |
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The figures cover waste from the preparation of food, waste from service counters and customer plate waste. There has been an increase in counter sales for 2009-10 of 6 per cent. compared with the same period in 2008-09. This may account for the food waste increase in 2009-10.