FOI 3297
Date requested: 08/10/2019
Amount spent on alcohol at House of Lords bars and restaurants for the past
two years, broken down by year, outlet and product
Request:
1. Can you please let me know the total amount spent on alcohol at each of the bars/restaurants
at the House of Lords for the past two years - breaking the spending down year-by-year.
2. Can you break down how much was spent on wine, beer/lager, cider, spirits, champagne at
each of the bars/restaurants.
3. Can you provide figures for the past two years, or if this is not possible within the restrictions,
please provide figures for the past year.
Response:
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”) provides a right of access, subject to specified
exemptions, to recorded information held by a public authority. In the case of the House of Lords,
the rights of access apply to recorded information held by the House of Lords Administration.
The House Administration holds the majority of this information. Please note we have taken
“the
total amount spent” to mean the cost of sales of alcohol to customers in House of Lords bars and
restaurants. We have taken
“the past two years” to mean two years up to the date of your request,
i.e. from October 2017 to October 2019.
October 2017 to December 2018
The information covering the period October 2017 to December 2018 is publicly available, as it was
provided in response to an FOI request earlier this year and is published on our FOI disclosure log.
The information is contained within the response to FOI 3213 and can be found on our disclosure log
via the fol owing link:
https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/lords/freedom-of-information-in-the-
house-of-lords/log/2017/foi-responses-for-2019/
As this information is already publicly available it is exempt under section 21 of the FOIA, which
provides an exemption from the duty to disclose information which is reasonably accessible to an
applicant by means other than making an FOI request.
January 2019 to September 2019
In addition to the published information, we hold the amount spent on alcohol at each of the House
of Lords bars/restaurants for the period January 2019 to September 2019. At the time of receiving
your request we do not hold this information for October 2019. Please see the table overleaf.
At this time we are unable to break down the expenditure by product (alcohol type) for this more
recent period. This is due to current reporting restrictions within a new system.
FOI 3297
Date requested: 08/10/2019
Outlet
Amount spent (January
to September 2019)
Peers’ Dining Room
£20,050.56
Barry Room
£14,250.70
The Woolsack
£92,854.01
River Restaurant
£12,011.82
Bishops’ Bar
£6,488.70
Peers’ Guest Room
£16,573.70
Lords’ Bar
£43,521.86