Assembly Committees Rack up £180,000 Bill on Tea and Sandwiches
09 May 2013
Commenting on figures obtained in a freedom of information request submitted by the Irish News and in response to an Assembly question tabled by Jim Allister showing that since 2007/08 Assembly committees have racked up a bill of £181,388.30 on refreshments the TUV leader said:
“A few months ago I discovered by way of an Assembly question that MLAs have munched their way through almost £1,000 of mints since 2009. Now we discover that since 2007/8 committees at the Assembly have consumed over £180,000 in tea and sandwiches provided by the tax payer.
“Some of the figures are staggering with the Business Committee managing to get through almost £5,000 of food in 2009/10. The figure has fallen significantly since but it was still well over £3,000 in 2010/11. Granted the committee regularly meets over lunch but I am sure I will not be alone in thinking the figure extravagant.
“There were many years when individual committees, such as Social Development, Finance and Agriculture, ran up bills well in excess of £2,000.
“MLAs can avail of the services of a canteen which is already subsidised by the taxpayer and, in the vast majority of cases, it is possible for MLAs to both attend their committee and go for lunch either before or after it.
“Furthermore, it is not unusual to see a large pile of sandwiches which are uneaten after committee meetings.
“The cavalier attitude to public revealed by these figures is typical of Stormont’s waste. They would have us believe that this is a time of austerity and that there is a need for everyone to cut back yet there seems to be no end of public money when it comes to feeding MLAs, be that with mints inside the chamber or tea and sandwiches in the committee room.”
AQW 10009/11-15
Mr Jim Allister
(TUV - North Antrim)
To ask the Assembly Commission what has been the cost of providing refreshments for Assembly Committee meetings in each of the last five years.
The cost of refreshments for Assembly Committees for the last five financial years is as follows;
2007/08 £28,920
2008/09 £40,763
2009/10 £37,308
2010/11 £37,604
2011/12 £18,556*
TOTAL £163,151
The FOI document can be viewed here http://tuv.org.uk/files/Refreshments%20spending.pdf
