Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many creditors had remained unpaid by his Department on 1 June 2014 for (a) 45, (b) 60, (c) 75 and (d) 76 days and over.

As at 1 June 2014, the Department had three creditors that remained unpaid for between 45-59 days.

The Department had no creditors that remained unpaid for between 60-74 days.

The Department had no creditors that remained unpaid for 75 days.

Following the abolition of primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) on 31 March 2013, the Department took over responsibility for ensuring that legacy invoice payments were made correctly. Legacy PCT and SHA teams remained in place, to process creditor payments for prior to 1 April 2013, until 31 August 2013. Those outstanding at that point were transferred to successor organisations, including the Department. As at 1 June 2014, there were 270 creditors that remained unpaid. This is due to the careful diligence taking place in order to mitigate the risk of making fraudulent or duplicate payments.