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.

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.