Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the Pre Pack Pool Oversight Group’s suggestion that the Pre Pack Pool is “unsustainable” unless referrals of pre-pack sales to the Pool are made mandatory.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There has been a very low number of referrals to the Pre-Pack Pool which was set up by industry to provide opinions on a voluntary basis on pre-pack sales in administration to connected parties.
However, the Government continues to work with regulators and industry stakeholders to discuss options for strengthening the professional standards for insolvency practitioners to give greater assurance to creditors where a sale is to a connected party.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make it mandatory for large businesses to notify the Pre Pack Pool of proposed Pre-pack administration deals.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Insolvency Service continues to work with regulators and industry stakeholders to discuss options for strengthening the professional standards for insolvency practitioners and give greater assurance to creditors where a sale in a prepack administration is to a connected party.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the effectiveness of the Pre Pack Pool, and (2) the proportion of eligible cases being referred for review dropping to 10 per cent, according to the Pre-Pack Pool’s latest Annual Report.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Pre-Pack Pool is one of a number of voluntary measures introduced in November 2015 to improve transparency and confidence in pre-pack sales in administration. The Insolvency Service has carried out an assessment of the impact of these measures and will publish its findings in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 26 February (HL1665), what proportion of businesses who have signed up to the Prompt Payment Code have their (1) procurement and purchasing policy, (2) 'how to get paid' details, and (3) responsible board director, listed on the Prompt Payment Code website.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data provided by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management states that (1) 6% of Code signatories (153 of 2,472) have provided their procurement and purchasing policy; (2) 49% (1,205 of 2,472) have provided their ‘how to get paid’ details; and 54% (1,329 of 2,472) have provided their responsible board director information for inclusion on the Prompt Payment Code website.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 24 February (HL1666), what measures they have used to ensure that the 34 businesses reinstated to the Prompt Payment Code remain compliant with the Code; and (2) what assessment they have made of the impact of any such measures on suppliers.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Payment Performance of the companies reinstated to the Prompt Payment Code will remain under review. The administration of the Code will shortly be transferred to Office of the Small Business Commissioner. Post-transfer, the Office of the Small Business Commissioner will continue to challenge signatories to the Code if their Payment Practice Reporting data suggests that their practices are not compliant with the Code. Following a suspension, signatories will only be reinstated once they have demonstrated that they have achieved compliance.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 24 February (HL1666), what was the average length of time taken to pay invoices to SME suppliers by (1) the 66 businesses suspended from the Prompt Payment Code, and (2) the businesses that remain signatories to the Code.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Payment Practices Reporting Duty data is used to monitor compliance with the Code, where companies are legally required to report their payment practices. The legal duty to submit data does not require differentiation in reports between payments to SMEs and payments to large companies. It requires them to report on payments of all invoices across the company. Additionally, the voluntary Code requires signatories to pay 95% of all invoices in 60 days and signatories are not required to provide information on payment terms and payment performance relating to SMEs as a separate requirement. Therefore, this data is not available.
We will shortly begin engagement with current signatories on the reform and strengthening of the Code.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what percentage of large businesses operating in the UK are signatories to the Prompt Payment Code; and (2) what target they have set, if any, for the percentage of such businesses to be signatories to the Code.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not hold precise figures on the number of large businesses signed up to the Prompt Payment Code.
The Government has not set Code sign-up targets, but we are fully committed to ensure as many businesses as possible sign up to the Code. We will shortly begin engagement with current signatories on the reform and strengthening of the Code.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to launch their consultation on strengthening the powers of the Small Business Commissioner.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to strengthen the powers of the Small Business Commissioner and clamp down on late payments. Strengthening these powers will support small businesses who struggle to cover financial shortfalls and find temporary finance more expensive to obtain.
Good progress is being made on the policies announced in the Government Response to the Call for Evidence to assess what further steps and intervention may be needed to create a responsible payment culture.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when full responsibility for the Prompt Payment Code will be moved to the Small Business Commissioner.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are working with the Interim Small Business Commissioner to transfer the administration of the Code by the end of the financial year.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of businesses who have signed up to the Prompt Payment Code have their standard payment terms listed on the Prompt Payment Code website.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data provided by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management states that 53% of Code signatories (1,317 of the 2,472) have provided their standard payment terms for inclusion on the Prompt Payment Code website.