§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the average and the median time his Department has taken to pay suppliers in each of the last 12 months; and what proportion of bills took more than six weeks to pay.
§ Mr. FreemanResponsibility for such matters rests with the chief executive of the Defence Accounts Agency. I have therefore asked him to reply.
Letter from M. J. Dymond to Mr. Austin Mitchell, dated 1 December 1994:
You asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the average and the median time his Department has taken to pay suppliers in each of the last 12 months, and what proportion of bills took more than 6 weeks
Month Number of bills received Percentage paid within 11 days Percentage paid within 30 days Number paid after 30 days October 1993 258,459 97.94 99.99 15 November 1993 277,925 96.96 99.98 32 December 1993 258,203 96.10 98.09 31 January 1994 249,488 97.72 99.99 21 February 1994 244,325 98.86 99.99 12 March 1994 283,141 97.67 99.98 43 April 1994 272,224 95.6 99.99 10 May 1994 272,133 95.19 99.98 31 June 1994 250,732 96.9 99.99 16 July 1994 244,214 96.28 99.91 208 August 1994 231,125 96.38 99.99 1 September 1994 209,821 97.73 99.99 3 3,051,790 423 All bills were paid wihtin six weeks of receipt at Liverpool.