§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how his Department publicises payment practices other than as percentages of invoices paid late. [967]
§ Mr. BurtThere is a statutory agreement with the Public Accounts Committee to publish the results of the annual payment of bills exercise in its present format—expressed as percentages of invoices paid timeously.
§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time it takes for his Department to pay invoices. [922]
§ Mr. BurtThe information is not available in the format requested.
Our aim is that all such bills should be paid within any special terms agreed, or if none exist within 30 days of receipt of the goods or service, or 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice, whichever of these is the later. Our latest monitoring exercise of the timeous payment of bills show that to date we are achieving 96 per cent. payment on time.
§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the amount owed to those businesses whose invoices were not paid within 30 days or in accordance with special terms agreed in each of the last five years. [1124]
§ Mr. BurtInformation is not available for the financial years 1990–91 and 1991–92. For 1992–93 and 1993–94 information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Details for the financial year 1994–95 and 1995–96 to 31 October are in the table.
Agency 1994–95 1995–96 to 31 October DSS Headquarters 179,810.00 385,221.00 Benefits Agency 248,143.47 62,526.36 Resettlement Agency 1,872.87 1,948.86 War Pensions Agency 1,373.02 23,781.77 Child Support Agency 185,583.32 53,773.75 Information Technology Services Agency 24,899.67 1,255.20 Contributions Agency 1,298,024.38 47,178.46
§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many (i) orders and (ii) firms are represented by the 10.5 per cent. of invoices not paid by his Department within 30 days or in accordance with contractual agreements in 1994–95; and how many of those are related to firms with fewer than 500 employees. [915]
§ Mr. BurtThe information is not available in the format requested.
128WThe number of firms represented by the 10.5 per cent. of invoices not paid by DSS headquarters within 30 days or in accordance with contractual agreements in 1994–95 is 33.
The method of recording suppliers and payments does not allow for differentiation categories of suppliers with fewer than 500 employees.