Minister for Small Business, John Perry, TD today (Monday 30 May 2011) published the Seventh set of Quarterly composite figures on returns received from Government Departments on payments made to their respective business suppliers within 15 days.
The figures cover the first Quarter of 2011 (i.e. 1 January –31 March 2011).
Minister Perry said: “The figures show that central Departments are continuing to meet their requirement to pay suppliers within 15 days of receipt of a valid invoice. Across all Departments 97.5% of payments in value terms were paid within 15 days.”
The key findings were:
· A total of 47,227 payments were made within 30 days by Departments in the above period amounting to €608m;
· 41,527 of these payments totalling €593m were paid within 15 days. These payments represent 88% of the total number of payments made by Departments.
· In value terms, 97.5% were paid within 15 days compared with 98% for Quarter 4 2010 figures.
· A further 5,700 payments or 12% were made between 16 and 30 days;
· 12 Departments were paying in excess of 92% of invoices by value within 15 days;
· The other 3 Departments were paying in excess of 65% of invoices by value within 15 days and
· All 15 Departments had paid between 93% and 100% of their invoices within 30 days, in respect of the number of invoices received.
Minister Perry said: “Clearly central Government Departments are making their contribution to assisting the cash flow of their business suppliers. It is now the turn of the broader public sector to match this lead and play its part in assisting SME suppliers.
“Government is now extending the 15 day prompt payment rule beyond central Government Departments to include the Health Service Executive, the Local Authorities, State Agencies, and all other Public Sector Bodies, (with the exception of the Commercial Semi-State bodies). The new arrangement will apply in respect of valid invoices received on, or after, 1 July 2011.
“All the public sector bodies concerned are obliged to publish their performance in meeting the 15 day prompt payment period. This will be on a quarterly basis and will be similar to the details published for the central Departments. In addition, each Department will produce a composite report of the performance of all relevant Agencies under its aegis.”
Minister Perry added: “the composite returns will ensure that my colleague Ministers can monitor the performance of bodies under their aegis and address any issues arising with bodies not meeting their obligations”.
Minister Perry said that he would now like to see the lead shown by the State in its dealings with SME suppliers matched by the private sector; particularly by our large key companies. There is scope for large businesses to improve their payment performance.