§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the suppliers to his Department who are owed outstanding amounts, indicating the amounts and the due date on which the account should have been settled. [13543]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 30 October 1997]: This is a matter for the Chief Executives of the Defence Bills Agency, the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, the Meteorological Office and the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. I have asked the Chief Executives to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from I. S. Elrick to Mrs. Cheryl Gillan, dated 4 November 1997:
I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about outstanding debts to suppliers as, in the main, this matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Defence Bills Agency.Departmental policy is to pay bills promptly within agreed contract terms or, where no such terms exist, within 30 days from receipt of the goods/service or a valid invoice, whichever is the later. The Defence Bills Agency pays very high volumes of bills and individual instances where these payment targets were not met could only be listed and valued at disproportionate cost. During the period 1 April–30 September 97, this Agency received 1.75 million bills of which 188 narrowly missed their due 30-day target. Howeve,r I can assure you that these bills were paid shortly after 30 days.I hope this is of assistance.Letter from John Clarke to Mrs. Cheryl Gillan, dated 4 November 1997:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Defence a Parliamentary Question about outstanding debts to suppliers. As this matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, I have been asked to reply to you directly.All departments are required to pay their bills within agreed contract terms, or 30 days from receipt of the goods or service or a valid invoice, whichever is the later, where no such terms exist. Such detailed information on payment performance for the current financial year could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Treasury will shortly be publishing a league table of departmental payment performance for 1996–97.I hope the information provided has been of some assistance.Letter from John Chisholm to Mrs. Cheryl Gillan, dated 4 November 1997:
115WThe Secretary of State for Defence has asked me as Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency to reply to your question about suppliers who are owed outstanding amounts.The Agency's policy is to pay bills promptly within agreed contract terms or, where no such terms exist, within 30 days of receipt of a validated invoice. DERA currently pays 98% of invoices without queries within these targets; during the month of October 1997, 98.2% of cleared invoices were paid on time. Detailed data on individual suppliers could be provided only at disproportionate cost.The Treasury will shortly be publishing a league table of departmental payment performance for 1996/97.Letter from Peter Ewins to Mrs. Cheryl Gillan, dated 4 November 1997:
I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about outstanding debt to suppliers. For the Meterological Office, this matter falls to me as the Chief Executive.Our payment policy is to pay suppliers within 30 days of receipt of the invoice within the Meteorological Office, or of the delivery date if later. For the period 1 June 1996 to 31 March 1997, over 90% of the valid invoices were paid within 30 days of receipt. We will continue to work to improve this performance. The Treasury will shortly be publishing a league table of departments payment performance for 1996/97. Detailed information on payment performance for the current financial year could be provided only at disproportionate cost.