CBI Scotland renews calls for prompter invoice pay

CBI Scotland has renewed its calls for all of Scotland's local councils and publicly-funded organisations to pay suppliers' invoices within ten days to help companies weather the recession.

The business organisation said it also wanted to see all public authorities advertise their tendering opportunities on the new national public procurement portal, Public Contracts Scotland.

The demands came as figures seen by The Scotsman revealed that 89 per cent of invoices submitted to the Scottish Government's directorates in December were paid within ten days.

The figure contrasts sharply with the 15 per cent that were being paid in October 2008, when the SNP administration introduced its ten-day pledge.

The public sector spends an estimated 8 billion a year on goods and services in Scotland, according to Scottish Government data.

Agencies that share the Scottish Government's accounting system settled 90 per cent of their bills within ten days, with five bodies – Disclosure Scotland, HM Inspectorate of Education, Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Scottish Public Pensions Agency and Social Work Inspection Agency – paying all their bills on time. According to the figures, the worst-performing agency was the Scottish Housing Regulator, which only paid 33 per cent of the 21 invoices it received in December within the ten-day target.

Other bodies sharing the accounting system paid 97 per cent of their invoices on time, taking the total for the whole of the Scottish Government to 95 per cent.

David Lonsdale, assistant director of CBI Scotland, said:

"This latest data shows Scottish ministers have made significant progress to date on this issue, providing practical help for hundreds of suppliers right across the country.

"However, feedback from CBI members suggests the record of other publicly-funded bodies and local authorities in paying their suppliers within the national target period has improved but still lags behind the performance of the devolved government."

He added: "We also want to see all public authorities sign up to and advertise their tendering opportunities on the new national public procurement portal, Public Contracts Scotland."

Neither the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities – which represents councils – nor the Scottish Government returned calls yesterday.