The week in Parliament – Scientology, school meals and brass bands

by Andrew Brentnall

What we’ve learnt this week…

§ Department for Transport staff are allowed ‘limited provision of alcoholic drinks at public expense at the discretion of a senior civil servant’ at night when working out of the office[277355]

§ 70% of school buildings contain some form of asbestos [276313]

§ The Valuation Office Agency does not regard Church of Scientology premises as places of public religious worship [274568]

§ The Department for Work and Pensions spent nearly £5 million on printer cartridges last year [274568]

§ The Department for Culture, Media and Sport gave £140,375 in grants to brass bands last year [275823]

§ Since its launch in 1994 there is currently £1,078 million in unclaimed National Lottery prizes [275560]

§ 56 children under the age of 10 were put onto the DNA database last year [271356]

§ The Department for Children, Schools and Families is investing more than £650 million to improve school meals [278034]

§ There are currently 60,900 registered childminders for children under the age of eight years [276656]

All statistics and information is taken from parliamentary answers and debates.