§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, under which vote the £370,179 shown as the total for staff costs, including wages and salaries, social security costs and staff meals, in the account for the House of Commons refreshment accounts in the year 1988–89, is shown in the appropriation accounts.
§ Mr. BeithThe sum referred to represents the cost of meals provided by the Refreshment Department for its staff, the wages of casual staff, and overtime payments and associated social security contributions wholly attributable to the banqueting services of the Department. Since 1 April 1980, when the Refreshment Department became a Department of the House, those costs have been met from the Department's trading fund, the accounts of which are approved each year by the House of Commons Commission and presented to the House by Mr. Speaker, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon.
The wages of all the permanent full-time staff of the Refreshment Department are met from the House of Commons: administrative vote (class XXA, vote 1); and appear in the appropriation accounts for that vote. In 1988–89 expenditure on wages, allowances and national insurance contributions for the permanent full-time staff of the Refreshment Department was £2,632,853.