Tea Room (Hansard, 17 December 1996)

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee (1) what was the total number of supervisors and managers responsible for the supervision of services provided by the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9020]
(2) what was the total wage bill of the kitchen and counter staff in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9024]
(3) how many management and supervisory staff are planned to be responsible for the House of Commons Tea Room when all facilities are fully operational; [9028]
(4) how many counter and kitchen staff were in attendance over a full working week in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9018]
(5) how many House of Commons Tea Room staff have had their working hours reduced in the past six months; [9026]
(6) what was the total number of hours worked by counter and kitchen staff in the House of Commons Tea Room in each year from 1990 to 1995; [9019]
(7) how many counter and kitchen staff are planned to be in attendance over a full working week in the House of Commons Tea Room when all facilities are operational. [9027]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
These are matters for the Director of Catering Services. I have asked her to write to the hon. Gentleman.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what consultations took place with hon. Members prior to introducing the most recent changes in the House of Commons Tea Room. [9022]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
Between 3 March and 5 May 1993, as part of its inquiry into refreshment services for the House of Commons, the Catering Committee took formal oral evidence from the hon. Members for Warrington, North (Mr. Hoyle), for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. Turner) and for Burnley (Mr. Pike), on behalf of the parliamentary Labour party, from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman) and from the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood). The evidence from these hon. Members included comments on the Members' Tea Room.
Written submissions, dealing in part with the Members' Tea Room, were also received from the hon. Members for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood), for Wrexham (Dr. Marek) and for Reading, West (Sir A. Durant).
489W
These submissions were received in response to a notice inserted in the "All Party Notices," inviting comments from all hon. Members on the various aspects of the proposed refurbishment of Refreshment Department outlets and premises.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee if he will place in the Library copies of the consultation documents relating to organisational changes in the Tea Room. [9023]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the First Report from the Catering Committee, Session (1993–94), HC (1993–94) 75–I and—II, which includes relevant documentation.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what was the total capital cost of those changes to the House of Commons Tea Room introduced in 1996. [9021]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
The refurbishment of the Tea Room was carried out in conjunction with the construction of the new Terrace cafeteria kitchen, which also serves the Tea Room. It is not, therefore, possible to allocate the costs of the various elements of the project meaningfully between the two areas.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what estimate he has made of the average amount of time it will take an average customer in the House of Commons Tea Room to be served hot food when all facilities are fully operational. [9029]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
As the new service has been in operation for less than two weeks, it is not possible at this stage to forecast the average time that it might take for a customer to be served hot food. I have, however, requested the Director of Catering Services to monitor the time taken to serve hon. Members; the Catering Committee will, of course, continue to keep the matter under review.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Chairman of the Catering Committee what surveys he intends to undertake on customer attitudes to the changes introduced in the House of Commons Tea Room over the last 12 months. [9030]

§ Sir Colin Shepherd
The Catering Committee is keeping the matter under constant review through informal consultation with hon. Members, scrutiny of the comments book in the Members' Tea Room and through discussions with the Director of Catering Services. Any formal survey would be conducted by the management of the Refreshment Department, and although I am not aware of any such plans at present, the Department has conducted annual in-depth surveys in June or July in each of the last three years.