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13 Jan 2005 : Column 612W—continued
Invoice Payments
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average length of time was between the date of invoices issued to her Department from a supplier and payment by the Department of the invoice in the last 12 months for which figures are available; what percentage of those invoices were paid within 30 days of the date of issue of the invoice; what percentage of those invoices remained unpaid after 90 days; and if she will make a statement on the Department's policy on the payment of invoices issued to it. [200612]
Mr. Miliband: Cabinet Office is a signatory to the Better Payment Practice Group, a partnership between public and private sectors, formed to improve the payment culture of the UK business community and reduce the incidence of the late payment of commercial debt. The Cabinet Office has procurement and payment procedures in place to promote payment within contractual terms and to ensure awareness of late payment legislation. Cabinet Office policy is that all invoices not in dispute should be paid within 30 days of receipt (or otherwise if specified as part of the contract.)
Cabinet Office and its agencies achieved payment of 97.79 per cent. of its invoices within its target for the period April 2003 to April 2004.
Of the 2.21 per cent. invoices paid late, 52 per cent. related to disputed invoices. We are unable to provide the age analysis of the remaining 48 per cent. except at disproportionate cost.
Comparable payment performance for the period September 2003 to September 2004 showed an increase in the number of invoices paid within the target.
During this period 97.86 per cent. of invoices paid within 30 days. 76 per cent. of the 2.14 per cent. invoices paid late were disputed invoices. We are unable to provide the age analysis of the remaining 24 per cent. without disproportionate costs.
IT Projects
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list Cabinet Office IT projects in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) amount spent, (b) purpose, (c) cost of overrun and (d) time of overrun. [205777]
Mr. Miliband:
Information relating to information technology projects for each year since 1997 is not held centrally and is not separately identifiable in the Department's accounting systems. It cannot therefore be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.
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Pay Television Subscriptions
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many pay television subscriptions the Department had in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year. [207658]
Mr. Miliband: The Cabinet Office had one pay television subscription in 1997–98. This increased to three in 1998–99; four in 2001–02 and six in 2004–05. The costs are shown in the table.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 1,309 |
| 1998–99 | 2,068.56 |
| 1999–2000 | 2,494.56 |
| 2000–01 | 2,778.56 |
| 2001–02 | 4,143.56 |
| 2002–03 | 2,812.56 |
| 2003–04 | 2,714.56 |
| 2004–05 | 6,104.68 |
Press Officers
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many press officers are employed in the Cabinet Office. [206517]
Mr. Miliband: At April 2004 there were 7.5 press officers employed in the Cabinet Office press office. The .5 refers to an official whose duties were split between two roles, one being a part-time press officer.
The Cabinet Office press office numbers also include the press secretary to the Leader of the House of Commons and the press secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Conferences
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case. [205763]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID officials organise and attend many conferences both in the UK and in other countries. DFID has no central source that could provide the information required by this question without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Expenditure/Equipment
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on (a) indoor bought plants, (b) indoor hired plants, (c) outdoor bought plants and (d) outdoor hired plants in each year since 1997. [205585]
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Mr. Gareth Thomas: Amounts spent on plants by DFID over the period in question are as follows:
| Indoor purchased | Outdoor purchased | Indoor hired | Outdoor hired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 1,758 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 2,049 | 2,538 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | 3,203 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 63,785 | 0 | 270 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | 10,198 | 141 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003–04 | 16,198 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Expenditure in 2001–02 was primarily due to refurbishment of our new Palace Street London headquarters, which included purchase of plants.
All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on (a) new furniture and (b) hired furniture in each year since 1997. [205607]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has spent the following amounts on furniture in the UK since 1997:
| New furniture | Hired furniture | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 80,322 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 189,753 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 213,259 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | 245,784 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 1,224,854 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | 698,779 | 0 |
| 2003–04 | 370,180 | 1,577 |
Much of our expenditure on furniture in recent years has been associated with the refurbishment of our main UK buildings (including moving to a new London headquarters at the beginning of 2002), and has been spent on modern, smaller, workstations suited for open plan environments and flexible working arrangements such as hot-desking.
All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on lighting in each year since 1997. [205876]
Mr. Gareth Thomas:
Expenditure on lighting within DFID since 1997 has primarily formed part of the refurbishment works carried out on the three UK
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offices. The element relating to lighting, including rewiring, fittings, labour, etc., formed part of the overall project costs, and while precise figures are not available, the estimated costs of these components are as follows:
All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many items of electrical equipment were used by his Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item. [205727]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: Electrical items are not purchased or recorded centrally and therefore precise numbers, and the overall cost of such items, is not readily available and cannot be obtained without incurring a disproportionate cost. However, estimated numbers of the main categories of electrical items currently in use in the UK are as follows:
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