§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the value of fairly traded(a) tea and (b) coffee used in his Department in each of the last five years. [17562]
590W
§ Angela EagleThe Home Office has not awarded any central contracts to purchase fairly traded products over the past five years. However each individual directorate and unit within the Department can purchase fairly traded tea and coffee from those companies that supply fair trade products.
The Department fully supports ethical trading in mainstream business and fair trade products will be purchased when they meet the criteria on procurement of goods and services.
The Home Office will be publishing an article on fair trade in the next edition of "Purchasing Matters", an internal periodical for all procurement staff. In addition the Home Office will be holding a purchasing symposium on the issue of fair trade in April. Both these initiatives will encourage fair trade purchasing in the Department.