Details of expenditure

The total of transactions in year 2022-23, which exceeded £500 was £146,366.43 (2021-22: £111,678). Much of this expenditure was for job related and professional training courses, professional subscription fees and purchase of small equipment, however the use of the ePC is a consequence of adopting the Scottish Government policy of moving more of its expenditure to ePC where appropriate and where the supplier accepts this payment method. This change in approach extends to one-off or annual payments where the use of the ePC cards avoids the administrative costs of supplier set up within the Accounts Payable system. Expenditure for which agreement has been reached to continue to move to the ePC method of payment includes conferences, external training payments and professional subscriptions.

The ePC system fully supports the Ministerial commitment to pay our suppliers within 10 working days and rigorous authorisation and auditing arrangements continue to be enforced to monitor their use.