§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many firms are represented by the percentage of invoices not paid by his Department within 30 days in 1994–95. [6487]
§ Mr. HanleyThe Foreign and Commonwealth diplomatic wing and its executive agency, Wilton Park, use a sampling method of measure payment performance. During 1994–95, 8 per cent. of invoices or 55 payments sampled by the DW were not paid on time. During the same period, WP did not pay 5 per cent. of invoices on time, representing three firms.
The Overseas Development Administration and its executive agency, the Natural Resources Institute, monitor payment performance by analysing all payments. During 1994–95, 13 per cent. of ODA invoices and 4 per cent. of NRI invoices were not paid on time. It is not possible to break this down further by supplier without incurring disproportionate cost.