Attorney General: Billing

Attorney General written question – answered at on 12 December 2018.

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Photo of Jon Trickett Jon Trickett Shadow Minister (Cabinet Office), Shadow Lord President of the Council

To ask the Attorney General, whether his Department holds data on the proportion of contracts issued by (a) his Department and (b) contractors to his Department that include provisions to impose that any payment due to a subcontractor be made no later than 30 days from the date on which the relevant invoice is regarded as valid and undisputed as required by the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Photo of Robert Buckland Robert Buckland The Solicitor-General

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) keeps a central database of contracts it issues. All contracts issued since 2015 that permit subcontracting have contained such provisions.

The Government Legal Department (GLD), Attorney General’s Office (AGO), HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) do not centrally hold this data. To calculate or estimate this would involve a manual check of contracts held and this would incur disproportionate cost.

For future exercises with an anticipated contract value above £5 million per annum, the CPS will apply the requirements of Procurement Policy Note 04/18 (published 29 November 2018). This requires departments to include ‘prompt payment’ questions in the selection of future suppliers.

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