The following table shows the percentage of invoices that have been paid by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) within 10 working days during the nine month period to 31 December 2009.
Percentage paid within 10 working days Core Department1 92 Executive agencies: Northern Ireland Prison Service 92 Compensation Agency 98 Forensic Science Northern Ireland 83 Youth Justice Agency 81 1 Including arm’s length bodies and the Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland but excluding Executive agencies and NDPBs
In line with guidance issued by Cabinet Office on 17 November 2008, the Department and agencies revised internal timescales for the processing and payment of invoices with effect from 1 December 2008. Since then, there has been a steady improvement in the NIO’s statistics.
The Government policy of paying within 10 working days applies to invoices from all suppliers irrespective of size—no distinction is made for small or medium-sized enterprises and separate statistics relating to these groups are not recorded.