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1240/5(4738)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2009
Question
Following my request on 6th July 2009, would the Minister advise the Assembly of the amount spent over the last 3 years to supply all States departments with bottled water (still/carbonated) and drinking fountains?
Would the Minister consider implementing a sanction on those Departments where tap water is available, but bottled water is still used and, if so, would he outline what form such sanctions will take?
Answer
The internal accounting system does not code bottled (still/carbonated or drinking fountains) to that level of detail. Identifying actual expenditure for bottled water and dispensers is not possible. We are able to identify the total expenditure of the major water providers at invoice level, however this data is not meaningful as the companies supply multiple products to the States of Jersey (i.e. vending products, provisions).
Treasury staff have contacted the two major States of Jersey suppliers to seek this information, but they are unable to provide this without significant administrative cost. In the past different departments held numerous accounts with the supplier, so consolidating the information is very difficult at present.
At an individual department level independent cost saving initiatives have been undertaken to reduce bottled water procured and replace with "point of use" plumbed in machines. We do not have the data to identify the actual savings achieved, because of the lack of line level detail available.
To impose sanctions will be difficult as each department is responsible for managing within its own cash limit. However, it is reasonable to expect departments to review all areas of spend, to determine whether savings are possible. Good housekeeping will always identify savings, no matter how small.
Departments will be requested by the Central Procurement Department to identify how much water is still purchased in bottled water form and the cost and whether it is possible to further reduce this dependency. It seems entirely reasonable that all bottled water should be phased out where a mains supply is available.
I am pleased to see that perhaps as a result of the Deputy questions, departments are now installing dispensers (including in the States Members coffee room) and saving money.