To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress the Department has made on tackling delays in payments to small and medium sized businesses.
Answered on
19 February 2019
The Government is committed to eliminating the scourge of late payments and bring about cultural change to deliver responsible payment practices. Large UK businesses must report on their payment practices every six months and we have created the Small Business Commissioner to address late payment complaints.
In October, BEIS launched a public Call for Evidence to understand the impact of late payment on SMEs and to seek views on how we can go further to tackle the problem. The call for evidence closed on 29 November with nearly 300 responses. We are currently analysing those responses and will publish a response in due course.