More than £4.8m of the Isle of Man Government's recorded catering expenditure went to local suppliers during the 2025/26 financial year.

The figures were revealed by Treasury Minister Michael Crowe in response to a written question from Douglas East MHK Andy Saunders, who asked about annual food procurement spending, the proportion paid to Manx suppliers and how much of the food purchased originated on the island.

Government spending recorded under the ‘Materials – Catering’ category totalled £5,848,320, excluding VAT, during the 2025/26 financial year.

Of this, £4,861,699 (83.1%) went to Isle of Man suppliers, while £178,713 (3.1%) was paid to off-island suppliers. A further £807,908 (13.8%) was classified as ‘other’, primarily covering expenditure made using Government purchase cards.

Mr Crowe explained that Treasury does not directly purchase food or other goods and services on behalf of Government departments, boards and offices.

He said: ‘These bodies may procure certain items of food with the assistance of Treasury Procurement Services to help manage the process but not the overall decisions about which suppliers to use.’

The £5.85m total also includes some spending not directly related to food, including packaging and cleaning materials, because these purchases are not recorded separately in Government accounts.

The figures exclude expenditure by the Isle of Man Post Office and Manx Utilities Authority, whose finances are managed outside the Government's central accounting system.

Mr Saunders also wanted to establish how much of the food purchased by Government was produced on the Isle of Man.

However, Mr Crowe confirmed that this information was unavailable because the accounting system does not record the country of origin of individual products.

He said: ‘The Government's accounting system does not record data relating to the country of origin of the individual items being purchased, therefore Treasury is unable to provide a percentage figure pertaining to foodstuffs of Manx-origin.’