Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what mitigation processes are in place for contractors who are waiting for late payment for work carried out on behalf of his Department.

Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy is to pay valid and undisputed invoices within 30 calendar days, reflecting the legal obligations in the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. In line with the prompt payment code, the MOD is fully committed to paying all suppliers as quickly as possible and since May 2010 our aim has been to pay 80% of invoices within five working days. Our latest statistics show that, for the three quarters of 2021-22, we paid nearly 92% of our invoices within five days and 99% within 30 days.

The Public Contracts Regulations also require that the obligation to pay undisputed invoices within 30 days is flowed down the supply chain and the MOD has a standard contract condition to this effect. Suppliers' adherence to contractual requirements is managed through normal contract management processes. The MOD has also implemented Cabinet Office procurement policy, published in 2018, which requires that we take account of our suppliers' performance in relation to prompt payment in our supplier selection process.

More information about our payment performance is published on gov.uk at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministry-of-defence-supplier-invoicing-and-payment-information.