Oral Answers to Questions

Jayne Kirkham Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, was asked—

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What steps the Commission is taking to help reduce levels of use of single-use plastics on the parliamentary estate.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Leader of the House. No—I call Nick Smith.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am happy to give my right hon. Friend a whiff, as we say in the valleys.

Parliament is taking action to reduce single-use plastics across our estate. This includes removing plastic bottles of water from sale, eliminating about 120,000 of them each year. We have also replaced plastic straws and cutlery with more sustainable alternatives, and increased the use of reusable and recyclable products. Parliament has also introduced a packaging sustainability policy for our procurement, which incentivises suppliers to reduce single-use plastics. We continue to look at further opportunities to reduce plastic consumption across our estate.

[Jayne Kirkham]

I thank my hon. Friend for that comprehensive answer. The town council of Falmouth in my constituency has adopted Plastic Free Falmouth’s plan to reduce single-use plastics across the town and at events in the town. I was therefore quite shocked when I came here and saw, for example, all the plastic cups in use across the estate. Will the Commission have a similar long-term plastic use reduction plan?

[Nick Smith]

As I have set out, Parliament has made significant progress in reducing single-use plastics across the estate. For example, to minimise the environmental impact, single-use plastic cups are now made from biodegradable material, and we do bags of stuff on composting. However, we are not complacent, and we will continue to identify further opportunities to reduce unnecessary plastic use. I thank my hon. Friend for raising this question, and I will ask officers to come back to us both on our plastic use reduction plan.