§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the reasons underlying the percentage of invoices paid within the target time in 2002–03. [115143]
§ Peter HainWales Office invoices are approved by the Wales Office, following which the payments are processed by the Assembly.
During 2002–03 my Department paid 88 per cent. of its invoices on time. We continue to look for improvements on that level of performance and in the first month of the current financial year we have achieved 97 per cent.