Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what budget his Department has allocated for the first year of the process of assessing applications for awards as part of the new Fair Payment Code.

The Fair Payment Code is administered by the Office of Small Business Commissioner on behalf of the Department of Business and Trade. The Office of the Small Business Commissioner is grant in aid funded by the Department and in 2023/24 received £1.148m in grant funding. As had previously occurred with the Prompt Payment Code, applications to the Fair Payment Code’s will be assessed by the Office of Small Business Commissioner and funded from its existing budget.