Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to bring forward new measures to reduce the frequency of late payments to small businesses.
Answered by Margot James
The government is already taking forward a number of measures to tackle late payment.
In April 2017, the payment practices reporting requirement will come into force. This will require large companies and large LLPs to report publically on their payment practices and performance, twice per financial year.
Also in 2017, we will be appointing the Small Business Commissioner, who will support small businesses in resolving payment disputes.
We continue to promote the voluntary, industry-led Prompt Payment Code. More than 1,800 firms are signed up to the Code, with each committing to pay suppliers within a maximum of 60 days, with the aim of 30 days as the norm. To date 27 of Government’s 33 strategic suppliers have signed up.
Public sector buyers (other than devolved bodies) are required to have 30-day payment terms in their new contracts and through their supply chains. Public sector buyers are required to publish annual data on their payment performance.
We also strongly encourage businesses to report poor payment practice and instances of late payment in public sector contracts to the Government’s Mystery Shopper service.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to bring forward proposals for a cap on standard energy tariffs.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The introduction of a price cap for customers on pre-payment meters was a recommendation of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report. The Government is currently considering their recommendations of the CMA report and will respond soon.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each report.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The requested information is not held centrally by BEIS and its Partner Organisations.
For research reports, BEIS has committed to both GSS and GSR publication rules – this means GSS publications are pre-announced and GSR publications should normally be published within 12 weeks of completion.
The Contracts Finder government portal provides information about contracts worth over £10,000 with the Government and its agencies, including details of previous tenders and contracts, and future opportunities.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on the effect of government policy on the renewables industry in Scotland.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I work closely with my Ministerial colleagues at the Department of Energy and Climate Change to support growth in the renewables industry right across the UK, including in Scotland. We are determined to achieve higher levels of UK content in our energy infrastructure. Scotland has benefitted from over £6 billion of investment into the Scottish renewable energy sector since 2010.