§ Mr. Ottawayasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the average time it takes his Department to pay suppliers of goods and services to his Department.
§ Mr. JoplingThe Ministry has about 150 centres which can authorise payments to suppliers of goods and services, and it would be a major exercise to calculate the average time taken to make payments. It is a standing instruction, that invoices should be processed promptly, and cheques are normally dispatched one or two working days after authorisation.