Parliament is “Britain’s last alcohol-soaked workplace” where MPs are offered free drinks as early as midday despite alcohol-related scandals, a report has revealed.Drinking is commonplace and some MPs have had their stomachs pumped after consuming so much alcohol that they ended up in hospital, one disclosed.Alcohol is “embedded” in how Westminster works, driven by loneliness among MPs, socialising in order to meet ministers, and drinks being served at daytime and evening events.The Churchill Room bar on the terrace of the House of Commons. Photograph: Lisa Ryder/AlamyThose are the findings of a survey of 190 MPs and their staff which shows that Westminster’s drinking culture endures, despite rising concern and a string of incidents, including an MP’s researcher allegedly having had her drink spiked in Strangers’ bar in parliament and the revelation that the Labour MP Neil Coyle was at one time drinking up to 200 units of alcohol a week – the equivalent of 10 pints a night. The spiking led to a police investigation and the temporary closure of Strangers’ bar.The report, by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) thinktank, said: “The findings suggest that Westminster remains a highly unusual workplace where alcohol is embedded in professional life, networking, lobbying and socialising in ways that would be exceptional in most other UK workplaces.Andy Burnham and the chancellor, John Healey, visit a pub during a trip to Essex. The report found alcohol was embedded in networking, lobbying and socialising for those working in Westminster. Photograph: Richard Pohle/Pool Times Media Ltd/AP“Participants described alcohol as being available throughout the working day, frequently provided for free, and often intertwined with career advancement.”Twenty-four MPs, 58 Westminster staff and 108 constituency office personnel shared their experiences and views. One MP, describing how readily available alcohol was at Westminster, said: “Going to a meeting at noon and alcohol’s available. Of course, I’m not used to that in my old job.”The free alcohol at events on the parliamentary estate, which organisations arrange to help them lobby MPs, emerged as a particular issue.Another MP said: “Where else in a work environment would you go, unless it was the works Christmas do, and there was free alcohol there for you? It just wouldn’t happen in real life.”A third said: “You can start drinking here from 12 o’clock onwards and go around and consume large amounts of alcohol, and it’s relatively freely available.”A fourth described events as a “legitimised opportunity to drink alcohol”, while a fifth said this routine provision of alcohol helps to create a “casual attitude to drinking”.Hannah Spencer, the Green party MP elected at the Gorton and Denton byelection in February, received a mixed reaction from MPs when in April she labelled Westminster’s drinking culture “unprofessional and worrying” and said it led to cases of “questionable and dangerous behaviour”. She remarked that “you can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes”.Hannah Spencer said she found Westminster’s drinking culture ‘unprofessional and worrying’ after being elected as an MP this year. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianThe IAS report also found that: