§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how often her Department and each agency within it has failed to pay invoices to small businesses within 30 days in each of the last five years. [40515]
§ Mr. SproatMy Department is committed to the payment of invoices within agreed contractual provisions or within 30 days of the presentation of a valid invoice or delivery, if later. While the information requested is not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, the following has been produced on the basis of a sample of invoices received by the Department of National Heritage:
Year Invoices received Payment delayed Percentage paid on time 1993–94 291 42 85.6 1994–95 1,323 124 90.6 1995–96 243 12 95.1 Our records cannot be used to determine "small businesses". There are no comparable departmental figures for earlier years as the Department's payment system was not in place until 1993, following the establishment of DNH in April 1992.
The Royal Parks agency and Historic Royal Palaces agency do not currently hold records that could provide the information requested, it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. An examination of invoices for goods and services paid by the Royal Parks agency during October 1994 indicated that 96 per cent. were paid within the 30-day credit period allowed.