To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. (311266)

In December 2009, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) paid 98.7 per cent. of invoices within 10 days.

This figure relates to invoices processed by the MOD Financial Management Shared Service Centre and the four MOD trading funds:

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Meteorological Office

Defence Support Group

UK Hydrographic Office.