This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Stop taxpayers subsidising MP's food and drink.
To stop subsidising wealthy MP's food and drink and subsidise free out of term school meals instead.
More details
MP's are paid a basic salary of £81,932 a year, and this does not account for so called allowances. We the tax payer pay MP's and on top of that we pay to subsidise their food and drink, as well as paying millions a year in so called allowances, and yet they shun the most vulnerable in society who need help feeding their children. It's an absolute disgrace and this needs to be changed.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
The UK Government and Parliament aren't responsible for setting MPs' pay or expenses. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is responsible for deciding on MPs' expenses and pay. IPSA is independent of both Parliament and Government.
You can find out more about IPSA here: https://www.theipsa.org.uk/about-us/
MPs may claim for the cost of purchasing food and non-alcoholic drinks where they have stayed overnight outside the London Area and their constituency. This is limited to £25 for each night they have stayed, but the claims can be for purchases made during the day.
The House of Commons Catering service does not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, while in other venues the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. The House of Commons publishes details of the cost of House of Commons catering services: https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/transparency-publications/hoc-transparency-publications/catering-services/transparency-reporting-catering-services/
Customers of the House of Commons Catering Services include some of the 650 MPs but also around 14,500 other pass-holders, many of whom are staff on lower wages that work irregular hours. In addition, members of the public and non pass holding visitors to Parliament also have access to these services. The irregular hours and the unpredictability of Parliamentary business contribute to increasing the net cost of providing a catering service. To offset this many of the restaurants, dining room facilities and their staff, are used to cater for private events at times when they are not required by the House. This is one of a number of measures used to reduce costs.
We have published the following petitions, which you might like to sign:
Increase food and drink prices for MPs in House of Commons catering venues: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555565
Fund free school meals over school holidays until April 2021: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555727
Provide the free school meal entitlement throughout the year: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555723
End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/554276
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.