Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what procurement policies his Department has put in place to ensure that (a) the Foreign Office and (b) UK embassies promote UK (i) ceramics and (b) manufacturing, specifically.
Answered by Alan Duncan
All procurement is guided by the Public Contracts Regulations and Cabinet Office guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, from which suppliers his Department acquires its tableware.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Tableware used in Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK staff restaurants is supplied by Bidfood Catering Equipment. The range used is manufactured by Steelite International, a UK pottery based in Stoke-on-Trent.
Government Hospitality (GH) arranges formal ministerial business hospitality for all government departments and orders, manages and maintains its own stock of china, glass and linen. The State Dinner Service used by GH is a Wedgwood design, originally commissioned in the 1950s. Other items of china tableware currently held in stock were manufactured by Minton, Royal Crown Derby, Royal Worcester and Spode.
Embassies manage their own stocks of tableware locally and no central record is held of suppliers.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of tableware used in British embassies is supplied by manufacturers in the UK
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold data centrally on the suppliers of tableware to its overseas missions. To provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.