Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions the Government has paid small and medium-sized businesses more than 60 days after the invoice was received in each of the last five years.

This information is not held centrally.

We recognise that being paid promptly is often vital to SMEs to ensure their survival and growth. The government has a commitment to pay 90 per cent of valid and undisputed invoices from SMEs within 5 days and last financial year, we spent almost £2bn more than the previous year with SMEs. In its most recent published report (Q4 2019/20), Cabinet Office paid 88% of invoices in 5 days and 97% in 30 days.