Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses in England that have a statutory duty to report on payment practices and performances; how many of those businesses have defaulted on that duty since its introduction; and what steps the Government have taken in relation to those business that have so defaulted.

Based on 2018 data, we estimate around 15,000 businesses in England to be in scope of the duty to report on payment practices and performance. The statutory duty was introduced last year and applies to businesses’ first full financial year after 5^th April 2017; we therefore anticipate the majority of reports to be filed in July and October 2018. The Government will be monitoring this first year of results and we encourage anyone who is concerned that a business might not have complied, or may have made a false statement, to raise this by contacting the Department who will deal with concerns confidentially.