Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average payment time is for each Governmental department for invoices submitted by SMEs as of 10 January 2023.

The Government does not currently require departments to publish the average time taken to pay invoices to SMEs. However, departments do publish information on the overall percentage of invoices paid within 5 to 30 days. As of the end of the last financial year, 13 out of 16 departments were paying over 85% of all invoices within 5 days, and 14 of 16 departments were paying in excess of 95% of their invoices within 30 days.

The Procurement Bill currently progressing through the Commons contains a Clause (68) that will require all contracting authorities to publish specified information relating to invoice payments. It is intended that the average time taken to pay an invoice will be one of those specified pieces of information.