Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of invoices from small and medium-sized businesses were paid by his Department within five working days of reciept of invoice in the last 12 months for which information is available.
Peter Luff MP
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code and is fully committed, along with the Department's trading partners, to pay all suppliers as quickly as possible.
We aim to pay 80% of invoices within five working days. The following cumulative performance has been achieved, in the last 12 months to 31 May 2011.
Invoices Paid
4,353,287
Percentage within 5 Day Target
94.75%
The five day target and the above performance relate to all MOD suppliers, irrespective of size, as it would be impractical to differentiate between Small and Medium Enterprises and others.