16 February 2007
Bottled water will continue to be served in the House of Commons despite calls for it to be replaced with more economical and environmentally friendly tap water.
An estimated 250,000 bottles of water are routinely served at MPs' meetings, and criticism has been mounting since the 2005 publication of Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker's report How green is your Parliament?.
But a House of Commons Commission spokesman, Nick Harvey, told the MPs on February 8 that the commission had 'decided to take no further action' on Baker's proposal.
His statement came as the lead Whitehall department for water quality and environmental sustainability — the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs — published an internal memo banning the provision of bottled water on any parts of its estate.
A spokeswoman told Public Finance the ban was 'part of the department's commitment to sustainability' but said Defra would not comment directly on the Commons' decision as it was a 'matter of consumer choice'.
PFfeb2007
