§ Mr. Isaacsasked the hon. Member for Woolwich, West, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, for which rooms, in addition to the Members' Dining Room, several separate menu cards were supplied before the adoption of the present four-page card; whether one card only, requiring no change of any kind in typesetting or make up, is now used in all rooms where separate cards were previously supplied; in what rooms are cards in use varying in any manner from 108W those in use in the Members' Dining Room; what is the estimated cost of each change made for this purpose; what was the total daily number of the several forms of cards previously issued and the total number daily of the present four-page card, and the actual weight of paper used in each case.
§ Mr. StewardSeparate cards were printed for the Strangers and Harcourt Restaurants, Members Dining Room and Press Gallery, twice daily. Under the present system one card only is used both for luncheon and dinner with the same menu for each restaurant, except that for the Members Dining Room and the Press Dining Room additional identical items are printed on the back of the card.
Under the old system 150 cards plus 50 cards for the Press Gallery were printed twice daily. At present 160 cards of one sort are being printed once daily. Weight of paper under the old system was 10.036 lb. per day, compared with 7.89 lb. per day at present.
§ Mr. D. Jonesasked the hon. Member for Woolwich, West, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, whether he will publish the average weekly wage bill of the Kitchen Committee for the four weeks of February in each of the following years, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952; and the total number of staff employed in each of the same four years for the month of February.
§ Mr. StewardThe following are the figures:
— Average wage bill Average number of staff employed £ February, 1949 … 790 146 February, 1950 … 683 120 House closed—General Election February, 1951 … 922 174 February, 1952 … 951 164
§ Mr. D. Jonesasked the hon. Member for Woolwich, West, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, if he will publish the total number of days during which the refreshment facilities of the House of Commons were open for business, distinguishing between the days on which 109W the facilities were only partly and fully open, in each of the years 1946 to 1951, inclusive.
§ Mr. StewardThe following are the figures:
— Number of full days trading Number of half days trading 1946 … … 143 34 1947 … … 140 35 1948 … … 138 35 1949 … … 135 33 1950 … … 111 27 1951 … … 116 32