Water UK

Provision of bottled water in Scottish Parliament

06/11/07

View on Scottish Parliament website

Robin Harper: To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its justification is for the widespread provision of bottled water throughout the Parliament. (S3O-1289)

Alex Johnstone: The SPCB provides bottled water only in the debating chamber and committee rooms. That is for the comfort and convenience of members and to minimise disruption during business. Unopened bottles are returned to stock and all used bottles are recycled. Bottled water is also provided on request for hospitality and meetings but is charged to event hosts. Chilled tap water is available throughout the building from tea points.

Robin Harper: John Lamont asked, on 16 October,"How many litres of bottled water, including water from water coolers, were purchased ... at Victoria Quay".[Official Report, Written Answers, 16 October 2007; S3W-5450] We were told that it was £34,201.90-worth. That seems excessive. I do not know what the cost is in the Scottish Parliament.

It is incredibly environmentally unfriendly to serve essentially plain water in bottles, whether or not they are recycled. It is an unnecessary impact on the environment because we could take water out of the tap. I can see no reason why it is not possible for jugs of tap water and glasses to be provided in committee rooms at least - I understand the problem with doing that in the chamber. Could the SPCB not think of asking for that? Why do we spend millions of pounds-

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman): You have asked your question, Mr Harper.

Alex Johnstone: We provide chilled tap water throughout the building but not in the chamber or the committee rooms, as I said. We consider bottled water to be more convenient to members and less disruptive to business proceedings. At the moment, we use between 500 and 600 330ml bottles per business week in the chamber and committees. That represents a relatively small total, but we recognise the environmental impact and wish to minimise it by recycling the glass. However, we are investigating the possibility of bottling filtered tap water on site and hope that that will come to fruition in the not-too-distant future.