§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the average length of time it takes for his Department to pay invoices. [938]
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 22 November 1995]:In common with most organisations, MAFF, including the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Veterinary Laboratory Agency, agrees payment terms with its suppliers in advance of orders being placed. The accounts payable system is designed to make payments only when they are due, in accordance with those terms. Thus, the average length of time it takes to pay an invoice is dependent on prior agreement with suppliers. Data emerging from the payments system indicate that 85.41 per cent. of all payments made by MAFF during the first quarter of 1995–96 were paid by the due date.
The chief executives of the Pesticides Safety Directorate, Meat Hygiene Service, Central Science Laboratory and ADAS will reply directly to the hon. Member.
§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. [914]
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 22 November 1995]:The information requested is not available. During 1994–95, MAFF was in the process of installing a new computerised payments system and, as a result, consistent statistically valid data on prompt payment performance could not be collected. Currently, MAFF, including the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the Veterinary Laboratory Agency and ADAS, does not identify separately payment performance data relating to firms with fewer than 500 employees, although this possibility is one of a number of enhancements to the systems now under consideration.
The chief executives of the Meat Hygiene Service, the Central Science Laboratory and the Pesticides Safety Directorate will reply directly to the hon. Member.
§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how his Department publicises payment practices other than as percentages of invoices paid late. [952]
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 22 November 1995]:With effect from the 1995 report published in March 1995, Cm 2803, MAFF's, including the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Veterinary Laboratory Agency, payment practices, including its prompt payment objectives, are published in its departmental annual report. Now that the new computerised payments system is operational, future annual reports will include data on prompt payment performance.
The chief executives of the Pesticides Safety Directorate, the Meat Hygiene Service, the Central Science Laboratory and ADAS will reply directly to the hon. Member.
875WLetter from G. K. Bruce to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 22 November 1995:
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has asked me to reply, in respect of the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), to your questions about payment of invoices.I would refer you to the answer I gave on 3 November to your earlier questions on this subject (Official Report, Cols. 507–508 refer). In line with Government policy and normal terms of trade, PSD operates a prompt payment policy and aims to settle invoices within 30 days of receipt. Our records show that so far during 1995/96 98% of valid invoices have been paid within this timescale. We publicised our payment policy in our 1994/95 Annual Report and Accounts and our payment performance will be included in future Annual Reports.Letter from Phillip Needham to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 30 November 1995:
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply directly to you concerning your Parliamentary Question (PQ 29) in which you asked the average length of time it takes for this Agency to pay invoices. [938]In line with good commercial practice, ADAS agrees payment terms with its suppliers in advance of orders being placed. Our payment system is designed to make payments only when they are due, in accordance with those terms. The average length of time it takes to pay an invoice is currently 32 days.Letter from Phillip Needham to Mrs Barbara Roche, dated 30 November 1995:
The Minister of Agriculture has asked me to reply directly to you concerning your Parliamentary Question (PQ 32) in which you asked how this Agency publicises payment practices. [952]The terms of payment are reproduced on the back of the purchase order which is sent to the supplier. Additionally, our payment policy appears on page four of the ADAS Annual Report and Accounts 1994/95.Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 30 November 1995:
As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service, I have been asked to respond to your questions regarding payment of invoices in respect of this Agency. As I stated in my letter to you of 3 November 1995 (Official Report column 507), the MHS is keen to pay invoices for all its suppliers on time. In particular, payment to vets that we contract much of our work to, many of which are small practices, have all been paid within agreed timescales since 1 April this year when this Agency was launched. These payments account for 78% of the value of our supplier invoices. [938], [914+952]As we were only launched in April this year, your supplementary question to those I answered in my earlier letter, regarding the number of orders and firms affected by non-payment within 30 days, is not applicable to this Agency.Concerning your final question about publication of payment practices, the Meat Hygiene Service intends to include this information in its first and subsequent set of annual accounts, when these are published after our first year of operation.Letter from Professor P. I. Stanley to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 30 November 1995:
You asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food three separate questions relating to the payment of invoices. The Central Science Laboratory (CSL) became a MAFF executive agency in April 1992 and the Minister has asked me to reply to you in respect of the Agency as these are operational matters for which I am responsible.Firstly, our most recent data shows that the average length of time taken by the Agency to pay invoices, from the date of the invoice to the date of payment, is 23 days.876WSecondly, in 1994–95 some 10% of CSL invoices were not paid within 30 days of the invoice date. This represented approximately i) 1,000 orders and ii) 300 firms. I am unable to confirm the number relating to firms with fewer than 500 employees as this information is not available.Finally, it is my intention in future to publicise the Agency's payment practices in our Annual Report and Accounts.