§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what sums his Department has expended on the purchase of(a) beef, (b) sheepmeat, (c) pigmeat, (d) poultry and (e) fish in each of the last three years or financial years and the current year to the latest available date; how much in each case has been spent on (a) United Kingdom procedure and (b) imported produce; from which countries the imported food came; and what was the cost of the imports from each country. [26805]
§ Mr. SpellarThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Naval Bases and Supply Agency (NBSA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Trewby to Mr. William Ross, dated 3rd February 1998:
The Secretary of State for Defence has asked me to reply to your Question about the supply of meat, poultry and fish to the armed forces.The procurement of food for the armed forces is contracted to Booker Foodservice who took over the contract from NAAFI on 1 October 1997. I regret that the information you request on past expenditure is not available. However, the breakdown of country of origin for beef, lamb and pork for the expected purchases for the 12 month period ending September 1998 was given in the answer to the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Mr. Öpik) on 13 January 1998, Official Report column 157. The value of those purchases is estimated at £6.7M, £4.6M and £3.7M respectively. The estimates for the values of gammon and bacon, poultry and fish are given below. All figures are subject to variation dependent upon markets providing the best value for money.
Commodity Value (£ million) Country of Origin (percentage by value) Gammon and Bacon 4.5 UK: 50 Danish: 30 Dutch: 20 Poultry 3.0 France: 70 UK: 30 Fish1 1.0 n/a 1 Excluding processed products e.g. fish fingers. n/a Not available.