Small Business Commissioner: Late Payments Debate
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Lord Aberdare
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Small Business Commissioner: Late Payments
Lord Aberdare Excerpts(3 years ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
That is a very good suggestion. I certainly will do that.
Lord Aberdare (CB)
My Lords, the Small Business Commissioner’s role is limited in relation to construction companies. For example, she can deal with complaints from small construction firms about payment disputes only with larger firms which are signatories to the prompt payment code. Why then can she not deal with the same complaints when the bigger firm is not a code signatory? Will the Minister look at extending the commissioner’s role to provide full support to small construction businesses?
Lord Callanan (Con)
I have had this discussion with the noble Lord before. The construction industry is different; there are adjudication processes already set up for it and we are also looking at the issue of payment retention, as the noble Lord knows well. It is a complicated issue. The legislation already precludes the application to the construction industry, because there is an adjudication code process already there.