Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of payments by his Department to small businesses are made on time and in accordance with the prompt payment code.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office aims to comply with the prompt payment code for all support. In the second quarter of this financial year (July-September), we paid 84.25 % of invoices within 5 days, and 95.45 % of invoices within 30 days.