Details of payments to businesses more than 90 days late: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02549  
Date received: 19 September 2018 
Date responded: 25 September 2018

 

Information requested

 

Details of any payments in 2018 from the Scottish Government to businesses where the payments are/were more than 90 days late. Information should include the number of such incidences, the businesses involved, how much they are/were owed, and how many days late the payments are/were.

 

Response

 

The Scottish Government’s prompt payment policy requires that all suppliers' invoices not in dispute are paid within the terms of the relevant contract. The Scottish Government aims to pay 100% of invoices, including disputed invoices once the dispute has been settled, on time in these terms.

As part of its plan for supporting economic recovery in Scotland, the then First Minister announced on 9 October 2008 that the Scottish Government would aspire to a 10 working day target for paying bills to businesses in Scotland. This aspiration is above and beyond our contractual commitment to pay suppliers within 30 days. Paying supplier bills within ten working days is seen as a key objective, and an important expression of the Scottish Government's commitment to supporting business.

The percentage of invoices paid in 10 working days by the Scottish Government during its financial year 2017-18 was 98.8%. The number of invoices paid, including those paid by electronic procurement card was approximately 75,000.

However very occasionally the objective to pay all invoices on time is not achieved. From 1 January to 19 August 2018 the Scottish Government made 4 payments to businesses that were more than 90 days late. Details are contained within the table below:

Supplier	Amount Paid	Days late
Little Bay Cafe	71.40	105
Michael Rubenstein Conferences Limited	300	105
Little Bay Cafe	71.40	105
Sodexo Limited	223.15	138

These invoices were delayed due to internal administrative errors.

The Scottish Government regrets any delays in payments to suppliers and our performance in paying 98.8% of transactions within 10 working underlines this commitment. We are continuing to strive to improve this performance.

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