Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the tribunal system in supporting small businesses facing late payments.

The Government understands the impact late payments has on small businesses and the important role the tribunal system plays in helping to recover late payments, alongside the Office of the Small Business Commissioner which was set up to help small businesses with late payment disputes and which runs a free dispute resolution service. The Government will soon be launching a public consultation seeking views on how we can go further to tackle late payments.