Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises expected to benefit from the proposed 60-day payment limit; and whether he will publish the methodology underpinning that estimate.

The Government has not published an estimate of how many SMEs will benefit from the 60-day maximum payment term, as impact varies across sectors, supply chains and contractual practices.

The supporting evidence is set out in the Department’s Impact Assessment, which explains the data and methodology used. The case for reform reflects the scale of the late payment problem. It is estimated late payments cost the UK economy £11 billion each year, with around 14,000 business closures annually