Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans her Department has for eliminating the use of cash retentions in the construction industry; and if she will make a statement.

The Government is committed to improving payment practices; we fully understand the practice of cash retentions can create problems for contractors in the supply chain.

To date, we have undertaken extensive analysis of the responses to the 2018 consultation exercise alongside wider stakeholder discussions. This includes ministerial roundtables, which bring together representatives from the construction sector to consider cash retention issues and reach a consensus on policy options.

A range of views remain across the sector and its clients about the problems associated with the withholding of retentions, and how these might be addressed.

We will publish the response to the consultation on the practice of cash retention under construction contracts as soon as possible. The Government will continue to work with industry on these issues.