§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the suppliers to whom payments from NHS trusts are outstanding beyond the due date for payment, indicating in each case the name of the trust and when the payment was due. [13526]
§ Mr. MilburnNational health service trusts make over 3 million payments per quarter to a very large number of suppliers. The details are not therefore collected by the Department. In the first quarter of 1997–98, approximately 80 per cent. of payments were made on time.
Information on the compliance of individual NHS trusts with the public sector payment policy is collected quarterly. The information provides the numbers of bills paid, the numbers paid within the prompt payment target and the percentage paid within target.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health 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. [13542]
§ Ms JowellAll Departments are required to pay all their bills within agreed contract terms, or 30 days from receipt of the goods or service or a valid invoice, whichever is 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.