Small Business Commissioner: Late Payments Debate
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Lord Palmer of Childs Hill
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Small Business Commissioner: Late Payments
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Excerpts(3 years ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
I apologise to my noble friend, but I did not quite catch all of his question. This is a serious problem. The Small Business Commissioner is newly appointed, and she is still getting to grips with her role. To be fair to the previous commissioner, since December 2017, the commissioner has recovered more than £7.8 million owed to small businesses. A lot is happening in this area, but I totally accept that we need to do more.
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)
My Lords, will the Minister please say whether, in the trade agreements on which the Government are embarked, there will be some provision so that overseas companies pay their UK customers promptly?
Lord Callanan (Con)
These things are all extremely important. I do not know whether there are any specific provisions in trade agreements on prompt payment, but I shall certainly have a look and write to the noble Lord about it.